RNS Number:4004P
Gilat Satcom Limited
05 March 2008
GILAT SATCOM LIMITED
SECOND INVESTMENT IN EAST AFRICA UNDERSEA FIBRE OPTIC CABLE CAPACITY
Gilat Satcom Ltd. ("Gilat"), the international broadband services company quoted
on AIM (GLT), announced today that it has decided to invest and purchase
bandwidth capacity in The Eastern Africa Marine System project ("TEAMS") through
Teams Limited, established by various parties. Gilat as one of the parties in
this project will receive long-term bandwidth capacity, enabling it to increase
its offering to the East African market of broadband internet, and
telecommunication services.
TEAMS is a US$130 million project to build an undersea fibre optic telecoms
cable connecting Kenya to Fujairah (UAE), and from Fujairah will have
connectivity to the world-wide internet backbone. Its construction is being
funded by a consortium of East African national and international telecoms
service providers. TEAMS is scheduled to be ready for commercial use by the end
of 2009. Teams Ltd will own 85 percent of the TEAMS cable capacity, the
remainder will be owned by Etisalat.
Gilat intends to invest approximately US$1.4 million in the project. Gilat's
investment will entitle it to ownership of approximately 1.25 percent of Teams
Ltd. shares. In addition, Gilat's investment will grant it access and rights of
use to bandwidth capacity which may be used for broadband internet connectivity
or other communications applications for the lifetime of the cable, which is
expected to be at least 15 years. The investment will be payable over the coming
year. Gilat's investment will be funded from its existing resources.
Gilat's Chief Executive Officer, Roy Hess, commented: "Gilat is a global
communication provider and as such believes that it must diverse its products
and services. We see the growth in the demand for telecommunication services in
the East African markets. We believe this demand will continue to grow, and we
will be ready with a variety of solutions for our customers. As reported last
year Gilat had taken a strategic decision to invest in fibre optic projects.
EASSy was the first investment we made and now with TEAMS we will be able to
offer more services to more customers in our markets"
CONTACTS
Gilat Satcom Ltd.: +972 3 925 5015
Liat Helman, CFO
Seymour Pierce: +44 20 7107 8000
Stuart Lane or John Depasquale
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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