⎯ Viasat Urban Wi-Fi to Launch in Mexico City with Speeds and Prices that Rival Terrestrial Internet Offerings
⎯ Viasat Plans to Bring its Competitive Viasat Urban Wi-Fi Service to Major Cities across all of Mexico
⎯ Viasat Urban Wi-Fi Brings Connectivity Resiliency to Cities, Providing Needed Communications for Disaster Relief When Terrestrial Offerings Go Offline or Where Mobile Coverage is Lacking
Viasat Inc. (NASDAQ: VSAT), a global communications company, today introduced Viasat Urban Wi-Fi, a new satellite-enabled Wi-Fi service for cities throughout Mexico. Viasat Urban Wi-Fi is being deployed first in Mexico City, with plans to bring the high-speed, high-quality broadband service nationwide by the end of 2019. Major Mexican cities expected to receive the service, include: Cabo San Lucas, Guadalajara, Guanajuato, Puebla, Tijuana and Veracruz, to name a few.
Viasat Urban Wi-Fi will offer city residents across Mexico a satellite internet service with speeds, quality and pricing that is highly-competitive to other terrestrial internet offerings. In fact, Viasat Urban Wi-Fi will offer speeds up to 100 Mbps to consumers at affordable prices. Other expected use cases for Viasat Urban Wi-Fi in city environments include the need for a resilient connectivity system—as a supplement to existing cellular networks—in times of natural disaster or national security relief.
“Satellite broadband is not just for the remote communities in Mexico—it can also deliver a great internet experience to consumers living and working in major city centers as well as government and healthcare officials in need of a communications backbone during disaster relief,” said Kevin Cohen, country manager, Mexico. “We need to open the dialogue that the digital divide doesn’t only exist in remote areas; it also exists today in urban locations. The introduction of our Viasat Urban Wi-Fi service in Mexico City, is proof that satellite internet can deliver fast, affordable connectivity anywhere in Mexico.”
Viasat Urban Wi-Fi leverages the advanced ViaSat-2 satellite system coupled with Viasat’s satellite-enabled hotspot platform to bring high-speed, high-quality broadband internet to major cities. Viasat Urban Wi-Fi can be deployed in a matter of hours with minimal local infrastructure investment, showcasing Viasat’s ability to quickly bring cost-effective internet service to urban areas where connectivity gaps exist between demand, affordability and availability.
Cohen continued, “Viasat is here to connect Mexico, and we are determined to bring digital inclusion to every part of the country. Today we are providing affordable satellite-enabled Community Wi-Fi hotspot services within walking distance to over one million Mexican citizens; we are bringing high-speed satellite broadband service to enterprises, businesses and federal programs across Mexico; and we are even starting to serve passengers and flight crews on airplanes across Mexico with high-speed in-flight connectivity. The Viasat Urban Wi-Fi service will now bring a best-in-class satellite internet service to serve urban communities, enabling us to deliver optimized internet experiences virtually anywhere in the region.”
Viasat Urban Wi-Fi Availability
Viasat Urban Wi-Fi will initially be rolled out in Mexico City in December 2018. Service in additional urban environments will be connected throughout 2019, by taking advantage of the available capacity within the ViaSat-2 satellite coverage footprint.