COMPANY PROFILE
HISPASAT: Connected from Space
Hispasat has just finished celebrating its 25th
anniversary. Throughout these years the Hispasat
Group has been a connecting link between Europe and
Latin America.
T
he cultural and linguistic ties
the company shares with the
majority of these countries and
the close relations they maintain with
Brazil, where its subsidiary Hispamar
is located, have been the cornerstones
of Hispasat’s growth and business
consolidation in Latin America.
Hispasat’s presence in the region goes
back to 1992, when it put its first satellite
into orbit, the Hispasat 1A, at the 30° West
orbital position. On December 5th that year,
the first telecommunications services offered
by Radiotelevisión Española in Latin America
began by broadcasting the OTI Festival
(Iberian-American Music Festival). The event
was transmitted via the Hispasat 1A satellite
and shown on the ‘TV America’ channel. The
signal was received extensively throughout
Latin America and marked the beginning of
close ties between these two continents that
share so many common experiences and goals.
Hispasat Group extended its presence in
Latin America in 2001 with the creation of its
Brazilian subsidiary HISPAMAR, marking the
first step in the company’s internationalisation
process. It is clear today that this was the
right decision as currently 66% of Hispasat’s
income from leasing space capacity comes
from the Americas. Moreover, one of the
orbital positions to which the Group has rights,
located at 61° West, has become one of the
most important positions for the video market
in Latin America, and other transatlantic
16 LATAM Briefing
positions allow the operator to serve as an
excellent communications bridge between
Europe and the Americas.
The commercial effort over the last several
years has allowed HISPASAT to strengthen
its client base in the region and broaden its
market by extending to new countries, leading
to significant growth for the company in the
Americas.
Many important agreements have been
reached in the last few months and one that is
particularly noteworthy is the deal signed with
the Mexican telecommunications company
GlobalSat to extend satellite broadband to more
than 8,700 public spaces in rural areas of the
country. The goal of this network is to provide
Internet access to more than 10,000 schools,
health centres, libraries and other public
facilities in Mexico located in towns and villages
that do not have high-capacity connectivity.
This is an initiative of the “México Conectado”
project, which was set up by the Secretariat of
Communications and Transport (SCT).
In Mexico HISPASAT has also signed an
agreement with the satellite service provider
SPACENET to distribute films and live events
in the country’s main cinema chains. By doing
so, more than 500 Mexican cinemas will be
able to easily receive content in its highest
quality, thanks to the Amazonas 3 satellite,
located at the 61° West orbital position.
In Colombia, HISPASAT has partnered
with the NEC Corporation to install and
administer 648 digital kiosks in the country,
the second stage of the ‘Kioscos Vive Digital’
plan carried out by the Ministry of Information
Technologies and Communications. It is
a project by the Colombian Government
that seeks to develop the country’s digital
ecosystem, providing Internet access points
in rural areas. The final aim of the project is
to spread the use of the Internet and promote
digital inclusion for the Colombian population
in areas where terrestrial communications
networks do not reach.
These types of projects show the important
role satellites have in reducing the digital
divide, especially in regions of the world
where terrestrial networks are not well
developed. It is the only infrastructure that
provides a fast and complete coverage for
an extensive area, along with high capacity
for transmitting large amounts of data. It
is for this reason that plans for expanding
these services are being carried out in
several countries in the region, such as
Colombia, Brazil and Mexico, with the goal of
incorporating the populations into the digital
world in areas that lack other communication
infrastructure, as well as increasing their
economic and social development.
Latin America is a continent where there
is still much to do in the telecommunications
sector. It is an extensive territory that lacks
connectivity in many areas. Therefore, the
satellite, which allows extensive areas on the
planet to be connected from space, is a key
element in quickly boosting the spread of
necessary infrastructure and the development
of the Information Society. HISPASAT
Group seeks to continue contributing to this
development, offering its clients the most
advanced communication services possible
through its satellite fleet, which will continue to
grow in the coming years to meet this demand,
constantly striving for excellence.