Filipino fixed broadband provider InfiniVAN has teamed up with SKY Perfect JSAT Corp to deliver satellite broadband services in far-flung parts of the archipelago. The first site has been deployed on Batan Island in Batanes province in North Philippines, and is currently being used for remote monitoring of wind-power generation facilities and to help resolve digital divide in the surrounding rural areas. In a joint press release the two firms noted that the ‘combination of satellite communications and reusable energy and in efforts to address regional digital divide issues, SKY Perfect JSAT and [InfiniVAN] will contribute towards achievement of the country’s Sustainable Development Goals’.
The new satellite broadband service uses one of SKY Perfect JSAT’s newest satellites ‘JCSAT-1C’ which commenced operation in 2020. JCSAT-1C is a high throughput satellite (HTS) which reportedly offers ‘significantly more capacity compared to those of a conventional communication satellite and enables the provision of high-quality satellite broadband service at lower cost’. For the JCSAT-1C ground facility, SKY Perfect JSAT has implemented a network hub system and internet gateway at Yokohama Satellite Control Centre in Japan. Together with this facility and the HTS capacity, SKY Perfect JSAT provides the Virtual Network Operator (VNO) service to InfiniVAN and supports its internet backbone, enabling InfiniVAN to add this satellite broadband service to its range with minimum CAPEX outlay.