Broadband satellite operator Avanti Communications Group Plc (LON:AVN) , reported this morning that it had been making “excellent progress” since the launch of its first satellite, HYLAS 1, at the end of November. Avanti is set to capitalise on demand for broadband services in rural UK communities with HYLAS 1, which has now had all its systems turned on. The satellite is understood to have reached geostationary orbit and the first transmissions have been received at Avanti’s primary Gateway Earth Station in the UK.

The launch was highly efficient and as a result HYLAS 1 is expected to achieve longer useful life than planned because of fuel efficiency during transfer to geostationary orbit. Avanti said it would now continue with a pre-service mission which is using HYLAS to demonstrate certain capabilities that are relevant to future business, and then will prepare for the launch of commercial service in Europe towards the end of the first quarter of calendar 2011. It noted that the response from the market had been excellent since the launch of HYLAS 1 and that it was confident of achieving its targets to fill HYLAS 1 within three years and, under certain conditions, could expect to do better.

In November Avanti reported that its second satellite, HYLAS 2, had successfully completed a Critical Design Review. That key milestone means that manufacturing of the new satellite can continue to proceed at full speed and that the design has been validated. The satellite, being built by Orbital Sciences in Virginia US, uses the Star 2 platform and will deliver high speed, low cost two-way data communications via a payload of 24 fixed beams and one steerable beam in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The satellite will more than triple the capacity offered with Avanti's first Ka-band satellite. In July this year Avanti raised £70m in a share placing ahead of plans to initiate the purchase of its third satellite, HYLAS 3 in order to take advantage of possible new business development opportunities.

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