Hughes Network Systems announced that Colombian information and communications technology company SDT Ingenieria will deploy its satellite Internet services and equipment to connect 670 schools in Colombia.
SDT Ingenieria was awarded the project to help bridge the digital divide in the mountainous rural Medellin region, which lacks terrestrial connectivity, in the department of Antioquia. The Ka-band capacity on Hughes Jupiter 2 and 63 Western satellites and Hughes Jupiter System terminals at each site are used to power high-speed Internet services.
"SDT Ingenieria's solution using Hughes satellite Internet access meets all of our criteria for connecting schools to the Internet, and we are ensuring that everyone has access to the Internet through high-quality services that bring teachers and students online in a cost-effective manner - for those who home without Internet service is especially important." said the Antioquia provincial superintendent.
Hughes said it has a large and growing footprint in Latin America, providing HughesNet satellite Internet, community Wi-Fi hotspots, cellular backhaul and hosted network services to businesses in Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico and Peru.
Some 50,000 schools worldwide - including more than 15,000 in Mexico and 9,000 in Brazil - rely on Hughes Jupiter System equipment to provide reliable and cost-effective Internet connectivity.
And it's not just schools. In February, Hughes launched a successful three-month pilot of new community LTE services in five Brazilian villages, in which Hughes integrated its Jupiter high-throughput satellite capacity and equipment with LTE small cells and open source network cores - effectively creating dedicated LTE networks.
