Forthnet Group Signs New Contracts With Eutelsat to Launch Triple Play Services

Forthnet Group, Greece's leading private broadband and pay-TV service provider, today announced the expansion of its longstanding commercial relationship with Eutelsat Communications.

A five-year distribution agreement enabling Forthnet Group to market the new-generation Tooway™ broadband service to users across Greece and Cyprus has been signed with Skylogic, Eutelsat's broadband affiliate. Tooway™ is provided by Eutelsat's powerful KA-SAT High Throughput Satellite, a new wireless broadband infrastructure for Europe.

With these new contracts, Forthnet Group will be the first operator in Europe to bundle the Tooway™ broadband service with its pay-TV portfolio in order to offer users triple-play services through a single satellite dish and a single subscription. Satellite broadband, with download speeds of up to 10 Mbps and upload speeds of up to 4 Mbps, at the same time with VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) will start to be commercialised in Q4 2011 and offered in combination with NOVA pay-TV. The full service will be delivered via Tooway™ antennas equipped with a dual-feed in order to access broadband from the KA-SAT satellite and NOVA from the HOT BIRD™ satellites.

Yiannis Kavaklis, Forthnet Group's Chief Commercial Officer, commented: "We are particularly satisfied withthe extension of the cooperation of Forthnet Group with Eutelsat Communications. It concerns an agreement that enables us to extend the reach of our broadband and combined broadband and Pay-TV offering to all Greek households, regardless of their geographical location.The combination of premium content offered by NOVA Pay-TV with broadband through Eutelsat's specialised High Throughput Satellite is in line with our strategy to offer affordable, easy to use and quality services to Greek households. Covering unserved areas as well presents the Group with the commercial possibility to extend its broadband customer base beyond its fixed line coverage.

This agreement as well allows us to complement our Pay-TV offering in Cyprus with high-speed broadband services, offering a complete solution to the dynamic Cypriot market."

Andrew Wallace, Eutelsat's Chief Commercial Officer, added: "These new agreements with Forthnet Group underline our commitment to providing customers with a range of state-of-the-art and complementary services that equip them to retain, broaden and diversify their subscriber base. By bundling pay-TV services from our HOT BIRD? neighbourhood with the Tooway? broadband service from KA-SAT, Forthnet is leveraging an exceptional possibility to offer users simple and immediate access to premium programming and Internet access in one package. This is an exciting strategic development that we look forward to sharing with Forthnet so that users beyond terrestrial infrastructure have viewing choice and access to the benefits of broadband."

According to a public consultation for the report "White Areas of Greece for 2011" published by the Ministry of Regional Development and Competitiveness for the Digital Agenda, Greece represents a significant market possibility for satellite broadband. In spite of deployment of terrestrial broadband, there are after all more than 800,000 unserved citizens in Greece, which ranks 23rd of the EU27 member states in terms of broadband penetration.

The leading private broadband

Forthnet Group is the leading private broadband and digital pay-TV service provider in Greece and Cyprus, offering services pursuant to this agreement Forthnet brand name for Broadband, and Nova for Pay TV services. Forthnet group is characterized by research as Internet, ULL, pay-TV and HD services were introduced in the country by the group. Forthnet Group serves over 765.000 households with 120.000 of them receiving 3play services and more than 20.000 SMEs over an extended retail chain of 135 Forthnet Stores. Forthnet is listed on the Athens Stock Exchange.

Eutelsat Communications is the holding company of Eutelsat S.A.. With capacity commercialised on 27 satellites that provide coverage over the entire European continent, as then 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 earnings. At 30 June 2011, Eutelsat's satellites were broadcasting more than 3,800 television channels. More than 1,100 channels broadcast via its HOT BIRD™ video neighbourhood at 13 degrees East which serves over 120 million cable and satellite homes in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. The Group's satellites as well 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 access to high speed internet 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 just over 700 commercial, technical and operational employees from 30 countries.

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