ViaSat And Eutelsat To Develop Consumer Broadband By Satellite Services For Europe

Satellite Service and Technology Leaders to Bring Affordable, High-quality Broadband to Underserved European Markets

Paris/Washington D.C. – February 19, 2007 –Eutelsat Communications (Euronext Paris: ETL) and ViaSat Inc. (Nasdaq:VSAT) today announced a new cooperation agreement to jointly offer affordable, high-quality consumer broadband satellite service in underserved markets in Europe.
The new partnership will bring together Eutelsat, Europe’s leading satellite operator and its Skylogic broadband affiliate, with ViaSat, a producer of innovative satellite networking systems. Starting from June 2007, the service will use Ka-band capacity on Eutelsat’s HOT BIRD™ 6 satellite, with hub operations supplied by Skylogic from its SkyPark teleport in Turin, Italy.
The new service will be based on the ViaSat SurfBeam® DOCSIS® two-way broadband satellite system, a highly scaleable open standards-based platform that lowers the cost of consumer terminals and service. The system is already used in North America by WildBlue Communications, the fastest growing satellite broadband service which has amassed well over 100,000 customers nationwide since its 2005 launch.
“ViaSat and Eutelsat have a tradition of successful cooperation, and we are excited about this initiative to bring high-quality broadband access to European consumers beyond the reach of DSL,” said Marc Agnew, vice president of Broadband Systems at ViaSat. “Our SurfBeam system has proven that reliable, satisfying, and cost-competitive satellite broadband services can be offered in markets around the world. By combining ViaSat DOCSIS-for-satellite technology with Eutelsat Kaband satellite capacity and Skylogic operational experience, we’re testing a competitive, affordable service to expand the reach of the European consumer broadband market.”
“With our experience over the last years in supplying turnkey broadband solutions for Europe and around the globe, Eutelsat and Skylogic are well-positioned to address the consumer market for satellite broadband services in Europe’s geographically challenged locations,” said Arduino Patacchini, director Multimedia Department at Eutelsat and CEO of Skylogic. “ViaSat technology underpins successful satellite broadband services in North America and Latin America, making them the perfect fit for us and for future customers of our service. We look forward to a successful collaboration as we introduce this new service in Europe.”
Under terms of the joint commercial cooperation agreement, commercial services in selected western European markets including Germany, Switzerland, Spain, and Portugal will start to roll out from June, 2007. Eutelsat will provide additional capacity for any expansion of services on its Kaband and/or Ku-band satellites, which provide comprehensive coverage of Europe and the Mediterranean Basin.
PricewaterhouseCoopers estimates that by 2010, 58.1 percent (94.8 million) of households in Western Europe will be broadband households, up from 29.9 percent in 2005. Broadband access spending will increase by 12.9 percent compounded annually to $48.2 billion in 2010.
The ViaSat SurfBeam system is an open standards-based network that leverages the cable modem networking technology called DOCSIS. ViaSat-developed a satellite air interface that is seamlessly integrated into DOCSIS head-end termination systems and leverages low cost DOCSIS customer premises chips and software used by tens of millions of cable customers. ViaSat’s SurfBeam system can enable two-way satellite broadband service pricing that is comparable to terrestrial, but in areas with population densities too low to be economical for existing wired or wireless networks.
The satellite air interface also includes technology that mitigates rain fade, a reduction in signal strength caused by heavy rain that at one time was thought to be a potential barrier to successful deployment of Ka-band satellite systems. The ViaSat system automatically responds to rain fade with uplink power control and adaptive data coding techniques that help overcome potential outages, while optimizing the use of satellite transponder bandwidth.
Skylogic, Eutelsat’s broadband affiliate, recently teamed with ViaSat and ARINC to provide in-flight communications to business jets flying in Europe.

About Eutelsat Communications (www.eutelsat.com)
Eutelsat Communications (Euronext Paris: ETL, ISIN code: FR0010221234) is the holding company of Eutelsat S.A.. With capacity commercialised on 23 satellites that provide coverage over the entire European continent, as well as the Middle East, Africa, India and significant parts of Asia and the Americas, Eutelsat is one of the world’s three leading satellite operators in terms of revenues. At 31 December 2006, Eutelsat’s satellites were broadcasting over 2,400 television channels and 1,000 radio stations. More than 1,000 channels broadcast via its HOT BIRD™ video neighbourhood which serves over 120 million cable and satellite homes in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. The Group’s satellites also serve a wide range of fixed and mobile telecommunications services, TV contribution markets, corporate networks, and broadband markets for Internet Service Providers and for transport, maritime and in-flight markets. Eutelsat’s broadband subsidiary, Skylogic, markets and operates services through teleports in France and Italy that serve enterprises, local communities, government agencies and aid organisations in Europe, Africa, Asia and the Americas. Headquartered in Paris, Eutelsat and its subsidiaries employ 490 commercial, technical and operational experts from 27 countries.

About Skylogic (www.skylogic.it)
Based in Turin, north-west Italy, Skylogic operates one of the world’s leading satellite broadband IP platforms. Its operational centre, SkyPark, is equipped to offer a complete range of broadband services including content distribution, IP videostreaming, business TV, maritime applications, teleconferencing, remote control of installations, telemedicine, e-learning and Voice over IP. The teleport is connected by fibre to the Internet exchange point in Turin and uses capacity on satellites in Eutelsat’s fleet in order to serve users in Europe, Asia, the Americas and Africa. Skylogic’s customers include businesses, multinationals, government agencies and aid organisations.

About ViaSat (www.viasat.com)
ViaSat produces innovative satellite and other communication products that enable fast, secure, and efficient communications to any location. The Company provides networking products and managed network services for enterprise IP applications; is a key supplier of network-centric military communications and encryption technologies to the U.S. government; and is the primary technology partner for gateway and customerpremises equipment for consumer and mobile satellite broadband services. The company’s three wholly owned subsidiaries, US Monolithics, Efficient Channel Coding, and Enerdyne Technologies Inc., design and produce complimentary products such as monolithic microwave integrated circuits, DVB-S2 satellite communication components, and video data link systems. ViaSat has locations in Carlsbad, CA, and Duluth, GA, along with its Comsat Laboratories division in Germantown, MD. Additional field offices are located in Boston, MA, Baltimore, MD, Washington DC, Australia, China, India, Italy, and Spain.

Safe Harbor Statement
Portions of this release, particularly statements about performance of ViaSat VSAT products, may contain forward-looking statements regarding future events and are subject to risks and uncertainties. ViaSat wishes to caution you that there are some factors that could cause actual results to differ materially, including but not limited to: regulatory issues, product defects, contractual problems, technologies that do not perform according to expectations; and other factors affecting the telecommunications industry generally. The Company refers you to the documents it files from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission, specifically the section titled Factors That May Affect Future Performance in the Company’s Form 10-K, which contain and identify other important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in our projections or forward-looking statements. Stockholders and other readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date on which they are made. We undertake no obligation to update publicly or revise any forward looking statements.

Contact Information

Vanessa O’Connor

Eutelsat Communications

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