Gilat has signed an agreement for the delivery of its SkyAbis cellular backhaul solution, based on the SkyEdge II platform, to a leading South East Asian mobile network operator.

As part of the project, Gilat will supply and install two SkyEdge II hubs, 160 SkyEdge II Pro VSATs, A-bis optimization solution and related services. Some of the sites will be new deployments, while some will replace older SCPC modems that are in use today.

The deployment of Gilat's SkyAbis cellular backhaul solution enables the network operator to significantly save on satellite capacity, through the use of the SkyAbis Dynamic Allocation Multiple Access (DAMA) capabilities, which allocate satellite capacity to the site, as and when requires. This also enables the operator to expand the network to additional sites, where previously it was not economically feasible.

"As mobile networks expand to provide better coverage in remote locations, the importance of satellite backhaul in the market is growing. Gilat's SkyAbis solution provides significant savings for these remote sites, making the business proposition for the mobile network operator more attractive," said Yossi Gal, Vice President System Integration and Information Technologies at Gilat.

Gilat's SkyAbis is a prepackaged solution for cellular backhaul, based on the Gilat SkyEdge and SkyEdge II multi-service platforms. The solution enables operators to deploy hybrid networks that extend the reach of their terrestrial and cellular infrastructure to remote communities. SkyAbis features traffic optimization and dynamic bandwidth allocation for GSM, CDMA 2000 and UMTS backhaul, with much higher space-segment efficiencies when compared to SCPC.

Gilat's SkyEdge II is a multi-service platform enabling the delivery of high-quality voice, broadband data and video services for diverse environments including enterprises, rural networks, cellular backhaul and government network applications. SkyEdge II is a standards-based system using DVB-S2 and DVB-RCS. With better efficiencies and full adaptivity for both the inbound and outbound channels, it provides higher performance that serves the growing requirements of a range of end-users.

Gilat's diverse portfolio of SkyEdge II VSATs are all supported by a unified platform, offering service providers the most suitable product for their application needs as well as the flexibility to evolve their networks.