Eutelsat to Provide Satellite Internet Access in Spain, Portugal

(Bloomberg) -- French satellite operator Eutelsat Communications SA is expanding broadband coverage to Spain and Portugal under a new partnership with Hispasat.

The Spanish company, part of Red Electrica Corporacion SA, agreed to lease wholesale capacity on Eutelsat’s Konnect geostationary satellite to deliver internet speeds as fast as 100 megabits per second to customers beyond the reach of ground-based networks. 

The deal is worth “high single-digit millions” of euros in annual revenue, according to a statement Thursday.

Eutelsat has similar agreements with operators in France, Italy, Germany and South Africa. But it’s one of several companies building low-Earth-orbit networks, including billionaire Elon Musk’s Starlink and another from Amazon.com Inc. founder Jeff Bezos. 

“Our offer is already on the market, up and running,” Jean-Hubert Lenotte, Eutelsat’s director of strategy, said in an interview. 

Eutelsat invested this year in OneWeb, a U.K.-based satellite startup that will also compete against Starlink.

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