ASTRA2Connect

SES Broadband (previously ASTRA2Connect) is a two-way satellite broadband Internet service available across Europe, which launched in March 2007, and uses the Astra series of geostationary satellites.

SES Broadband is owned and operated by SES Broadband Services, a subsidiary of SES, based in Betzdorf, Luxembourg.

SES Broadband provides high-speed Internet access (at up to 10 Mbit/s) at a flat rate cost to end users, along with , IPTV, and content-on-demand facilities, without any requirement for a landline, cable or terrestrial wireless connection.

Until March 2012, SES Broadband was called 'ASTRA2Connect' and the operating company 'ASTRA Broadband Services'. The name was changed in line with the rebranding of parent company SES.

The SES Broadband service makes broadband Internet access available to homes in rural locations or otherwise beyond the reach of existing terrestrial broadband services. Outside the major European urban centres, there are millions of households currently without broadband access through landlines. and by 2010, up to 6 million, or 3.5%, of the 170 million homes in Western Europe will still be without terrestrial broadband access.

SES Broadband can also be used for transportable broadband Internet access, where the location or its temporary nature prohibits a terrestrial connection, although the equipment requires mains power and cannot be used while actually in motion.

As well as Internet access, SES Broadband is used for dual play (broadband internet and telephony) and triple play (broadband Internet, telephony and TV) services.

An upgrade was introduced in 2008 to enable an SES Broadband dish to be used for simultaneous reception of normal satellite TV from satellites at the Astra 19.2°E or the Astra 28.2°E positions.

Satellite broadband can provide an Internet connection for industrial data acquisition and control applications, where reliability and security are paramount, to ensure a constant data flow. For employment in industrial processes such as electricity generation, water management, refining, oil and natural gas drilling, automatic fabrication, and transportation, where use of SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) computer monitoring and control are used, SES Broadband is a solid communications platform.

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