Ready for launch

The UAE will become a telecommunications hub for 27 countries and a population of more than one billion people when Abu Dhabi-based Yahsat introduces satellite broadband service to local and international consumers later this year.

‘YahClick’ will be the first satellite broadband system to service the Middle East, Africa and South-West Asia, when Yahsat, the Emirates’ third telecommunications operator alongside du and Etisalat, launches its Y1B satellite in the final quarter of 2011.

The telecoms provider

The telecoms provider, which is wholly owned by the Mubadala Development Company, is hoping it will fast-track the deployment of affordable broadband services in areas with limited or no internet access.

Shawkat Ahmed, of Yahsat, told 7DAYS that the pricing will be similar to that of available DSL services in the UAE, and that consumers can expect to receive broadband speeds of up to 18 megabits per second with the use of a 70cm dish connected to your laptop or desktop computer’s modem.

"This is going to add a new dimension to the connectivity infrastructure in the region as so then as in the UAE," he added.Satellite broadband has been available to consumers in the US for over two years and will as well be available in Europe later this year. It has been criticised for being too expensive in the US, nevertheless unlike fibre-optic or undersea cables, it isn’t prone to cable cuts or the loss of connectivity because of the digging of roads or any other reason.

The introduction of this innovation will be Yahsat’s first notable foray into the UAE consumer market as the country’s third official operator.

Finally, for those interested about whether the new operator’s stance on controversial issues just as Voice over IP in this country might differ, we can expect to see more of the same as Ahmed explains: