Posted: 30th Nov, 2010 By: MarkJ

Broadband Satellite ISP Avanti Communications UK, which successfully launched its first 10Mbps capable
HYLAS 1 rural broadband spacecraft into orbit last Friday (
launch news), has today signed a new
five year deal worth
£1.2m with BT to help it rollout broadband into the country's remotest regions.
Under the agreement, Avanti will supply satellite broadband services (via HYLAS1) as required by BT (i.e. to a minority of the remotest homes and business) for its recently announced £132 Million
Next Generation Access (NGA) project in
Cornwall and the
Isles of Scilly (
original news).
David Williams, Avanti's CEO, said:
"I am delighted that Avanti will be working alongside BT to ensure all residents of Cornwall will be able to connect to high speed broadband services. We firmly believe that our complementary business models will prove to be a vitally important example to the rest of the UK and Europe of how to solve the digital divide."
However the agreement is not limited to BT's project in Cornwall and will also be extended to other parts of the UK. Naturally signing such a major partner is good news for Avanti, which even before this news had already seen its
share price rocket (no pun intended) to
725p following the successful launch.