Avanti: the sky's the limit

3rd Aug 2011 13:03

Satellite broadband firm, Avanti, has extended its contract with Hughes Network Systems.Avanti said that Hughes had fully allocated its initial purchase £7.5m of capacity on its HYLAS 1 satellite to existing clients. Hughes had agreed to buy further capacity in order to support new business, particularly with its longstanding client, Bentley Walker, which was now installing HYLAS 1 services in the UK and Spain, Avanti said.Chief executive, David Williams, said over 70 customers were now installing HYLAS 1 services in 14 countries in Europe."It seems clear to us...we have the distribution in place to fully sell out all of our HYLAS 1 capacity within our three year target," he said. "In the meantime, we continue to see very strong interest in the capacity to be provided by HYLAS 2, particularly in the developing countries that it will cover."HYLAS 2 was on track for launch in the second quarter of 2012, the firm said.Avanti's share price rose almost 4% by lunchtime on the news.