Telecommunications Consultants India Ltd, an India-based government, enterprise and telecommunications consultancy and engineering company, reportedly signed a partnership agreement with Gilat Satellite Networks Ltd., a provider of satellite and hybrid networking products, services and solutions.

 

Under the deal TCI will deliver Nepal Telecom a SkyEdge broadband satellite communications network.

 

Gilat’s SkyEdge is a satellite communications system that delivers high-quality voice, broadband data and video services over a powerful unified system. It offers a comprehensive solution for rural communication, facilitating public toll-quality voice services efficiently over a satellite. The solution allows even broadband Internet services to be bundled in the future. SkyEdge’s flexible architecture and efficient space segment utilization has placed it as an ideal platform for operators and service providers, said the company.

 

According to Anoop Ranjan Bhattarai, director of Nepal Telecom’s Satellite Service Department, with a landscape of mountainous terrain and remote villages, Nepalese geography represents one of the most formidable challenges for providing dependable telecom services.

 

“We are confident that Gilat’s advanced VSAT technology and customer support ideally suits our demanding requirements, in addition to helping us extend our cellular services to rural Nepal,” Bhattarai said.

 

Nepal Telecom will use the new VSAT network to deliver broadband Internet connectivity to remote areas and to provide toll-quality telephony to rural citizens, meeting its Universal Service Obligations. Apart from this, Nepal Telecom has also chosen Gilat’s SkyAbis cellular backhaul solution to extend the range of GSM and CDMA services for Nepal’s cellular operators.

 

Gilat’s SkyAbis is a prepackaged solution for cellular backhaul, based on the SkyEdge multi-service platform. The solution enables operators to deploy hybrid networks that extend the reach of their terrestrial and cellular infrastructure to remote communities. SkyAbis features traffic optimization and dynamic bandwidth allocation for CDMA/GSM backhaul, with much higher space-segment efficiencies when compared to SCPC.

 

“We are pleased to have partnered with Gilat for this important project. By incorporating Gilat’s advanced VSAT platform as part of the solution, Nepal Telecom will benefit from a low total cost of ownership solution while offering customers high-performance connectivity and a diverse range of services,” said Vimal Wakhlu, executive director at TCIL.

 

According to N. Ranganathan, regional vice president, Asia, Gilat Network System, this deal is yet another example of how Gilat partners with its customers to provide solutions that cater to their specific requirements.

 

Ranganathan said that in this case, Gilat is providing its advanced satellite communications and cellular backhaul technology, enabling Nepal Telecom to extend the range of cellular services and provide voice and broadband data connectivity nationwide, improving the quality of life for citizens in the country’s remote locations.