Ya.com Internet Factory, owned by T-Online International AG (subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom) and SES ASTRA have signed a collaboration agreement to launch, for the first time in Spain, Yacom Satélite, the new broadband Internet access services through satellite, targeted at over five million Spanish people who do not have access to ADSL. ASTRA provides the technology that is able to close the digital gap in Spain.
Yacom Satélite provides broadband access to the Internet with speeds of between 256 kbps and 768 kbps depending on the offer chosen, and a return channel through the switched telephone network. The service also includes 10 e-mail accounts of 50 MB; 1 e-mail account of 100 MB, an anti-virus and anti-spam service and 50 MB of space for personal/commercial pages, in the pack called Banda Ancha Sat Home 24 h (Broadband Sat Home 24 hr). The service also offers 120 free-to-air television channels from ASTRA on computer screens. Yacom Satélite is currently undergoing pilot testing and the commercial launch to the residential and business market is planned for next quarter. The price will be less than 17 euros a month for the Banda Ancha Sat Home (Broadband Sat Home) package.
In Spain, 10% of homes receive ASTRA digital TV, with a penetration figure reaching 1.34 million. Also, another 3 million homes with a communal antenna receive ASTRA, which simplifies the installation of the new service. According to Guillermo Mercader, Chief Executive Officer of Ya.com, The launching of Yacom Satélite is another step forward to make broadband Internet accessible to everyone at an affordable price and to help close the digital gap in Spain. 21% of the Spanish population (slightly more than five million people) are now living in 6,414 municipalities without access to ADSL service.