AVN.L Regulatory News (AVN)

16 Jul 2007 07:01

Avanti Communications Group Plc16 July 2007 Embargoed for Release 07.00 a.m. 16th July 2007 Avanti Communications Group plc ("Avanti" or "the Company") New Spectrum Avanti Communications Group plc (AIM: AVN) is delighted to announce that it hasentered into contracts to acquire the rights to use certain new Ka bandfrequencies, amounting to some 14 GHz of spectrum, in new orbital positionscovering India, The Middle East, Central Asia, Russia, Eastern Europe, Africaand Latin America. These new frequencies give Avanti the option to launch additional satellites,based on the HYLAS design, to cover these promising new markets. Avanti iscurrently seeking to secure pre-sales agreements from institutional andcommercial customers for certain regions and, if successful, will then use thesecommitments to support the efficient raising of the required new capital forfurther satellite procurements. Commenting, David Williams, Chief Executive of Avanti, said: "Satellite spectrum is a scarce resource in a market which has high barriers toentry, so this is a very significant development for Avanti. We believe demandfor business data, broadband, video distribution and military services is veryhigh in certain parts of these new regions. Furthermore, it is clear that theinnovative HYLAS technology gives Avanti a commercial advantage and a window ofopportunity exists to exploit this position whilst competition in Ka band dataservices is relatively light. We believe Avanti can become a super-regional Kaband satellite services operator." Enquiries: Avanti Communications Chief Executive - David Williams 020 7749 1600 Hoare Govett Justin Jones 020 7678 8000 Hugo Fisher College Hill Sara Musgrave / Carl Franklin/ Rozi Morris 020 7457 2049 Avanti Communications Group Avanti Communications Group is the only licensed fixed and broadcast satelliteoperator headquartered in the UK (and one of only nine such groups operating inEurope). In August 2005 Ofcom awarded Avanti the right to provide satelliteservices using the geostationary orbital position at 33.5 degrees west with3.6Ghz of radio spectrum which provides coverage of Western Europe and most ofCentral and Eastern Europe. The Company's first satellite HYLAS, is financed andunder construction for delivery in December 2008. HYLAS uses uniquetechnologies to provide highly flexible and cost effective satellite capacity. Avanti Communications currently provides satellite telecommunications servicesto customers in Europe (using leased satellite capacity) which will transfer toHYLAS on launch. Avanti sells wholesale HYLAS capacity to telecoms and mediaservice providers in Europe. The core applications for which Avanti expectsHYLAS capacity to be used are broadband, corporate networks and videodistribution. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange