SES has signed an agreement with the UK networks systems integrator Rustyice Solutions Ltd for the distribution of SES' satellite-based broadband service ASTRA2Connect. The service will be marketed with packages of up to 10 Mbps by the company's subsidiary, Apogee Internet UK, and will be available throughout the United Kingdom.

Apogee Internet UK is the only Scotland-based company to offer satellite broadband services to primarily residential customers, but to commercial customers as well. SES announced on 20 December that it increased the speed of its ASTRA2Connect broadband service to 10 Mbps.

Rustyice Solutions has specialized in network engineering for business customers in the UK since 1998. The company provides complete network solutions and services specifically tailored to the customers' needs, from IT infrastructure to network security and web services.

With the new strategic partnership, Rustyice Solutions is expanding its offer to a new business area by providing broadband internet access via satellite to customers who may have no access to line-based broadband services.

"We are pleased to cooperate with a partner for ASTRA2Connect who can draw on many years of experience in providing high-quality network solutions in the UK," said Ferdinand Kayser, Chief Commercial Officer of SES.

"The cooperation with Rustyice Solutions is a further step in the development of our satellite broadband business in Western Europe."

Paula Livingstone, Managing Director of Rustyice Solutions, said: "We are extremely pleased to add SES' proven satellite broadband service to our portfolio of products and services.

"This strategic partnership will further enhance our market position whilst enabling us to offer our customers a complete connectivity solution wherever they may be in the UK.

"As the network develops and the services it carries become increasingly fundamental to both residential and business customers, this is an important element of our longer term strategy.

We are convinced that this new agreement will be another chapter in the successful cooperation between Rustyice Solutions and SES."

ASTRA2Connect is an interactive broadband internet service that is offered via distribution partners to consumers and businesses in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

The service is independent from any terrestrial network and is immediately available anywhere within the footprint of the satellite.

To date, ASTRA2Connect has more than 80,000 end-users in Europe, thereby representing the largest satellite-based broadband network on the continent.