Gilat Satellite Networks Ltd. (Nasdaq: GILT; TASE: GILT) will provide a broadband satellite communications network in Papua New Guinea. The country has a population of more than six million people.
Government-owned Telikom PNG has chosen Gilat's SkyEdge and SkyEdge II platforms for the project. Gilat's SkyEdge platform will be used to deliver broadband Internet services to remote areas and to provide toll-quality telephony to rural citizens.
Gilat has been providing Telikom PNG with VSAT-based networks for more than four years, which help provide communications in outlying towns and remote villages, many of which are accessible only by helicopter.
Telikom PNG CEO Peter Loko said, "Providing reliable telecom services across Papua New Guinea's mountainous geography is a daunting task and Gilat has enabled us to successfully meet that challenge." Loko added that Gilat will also help provide services to the financial sector in the country, which he said will enhance "the commercial development of the country."
Shares in Gilat rose 2.05% to $4.01 by mid-afternoon in New York, giving a market cap of $159.48 million.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on June 22, 2009
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