Following their announcement of a satellite broadband joint venture in September 2018, the UAE’s Yahsat and U.S. company Hughes Network Systems have officially launched the JV – called YahClick (powered by Hughes) – across the Middle East, Africa, and Southwest Asia with immediate effect.
This joint venture will provide greater access to commercial Ka-band satellite broadband services across these regions.
Yahsat and Hughes Network Systems will continue to provide unserved and underserved communities with reliable, high-speed internet services via Yahsat’s Al Yah-2 and Al Yah-3 Ka-band satellites, while utilizing the capabilities of the Hughes’ systems, designed and optimized for large scale high-throughput satellites.
The newly formed joint venture company will go to market as YahClick (powered by Hughes). The company’s board of directors will include three members from Yahsat and two members from Hughes. Masood Sharif Mahmood, CEO of Yahsat, will serve as the chairman of the board, and Pradman Kaul, President and CEO of Hughes, will serve as a board director.
The joint venture will provide “direct-to-premise services” to homes and small to medium-sized enterprises, as well as to community centres and schools served under local government programs across the regions. It will also offer “community hotspot” solutions to make satellite-enabled broadband more accessible to more users across Yahsat’s global coverage area, which currently includes more than 1 billion people.
This agreement aims to enhance the trend in the Mobile Network Operator community to benefit from the efficiencies provided by Ka-band-based backhaul and carrier solutions.
