SES ASTRA has announced that the Lithuanian satellite service provider SatGate resumes its transmissions from SES ASTRA's orbital position at 31.5 degrees East.

SatGate uses four transponders to provide broadband and internet connectivity to Internet Service Providers (ISP), households and end customers in Eastern and Central Europe, Russia, its neighbouring countries and the Middle East. Part of the capacity will also be used to serve ISPs who do not have the necessary infrastructure themselves.

SatGate was established in 2001 and has more than 50,000 active customers across different countries today .

SatGate originally started its services from 31.5 degrees East in August last year on the ASTRA 5A satellite which ended its mission in January 2009. In April, ASTRA 5A was replaced by ASTRA 2C. SES ASTRA offers 24 BSS transponders on that spacecraft and at that orbital position.

With the new contract, SatGate uses five transponders on SES satellites: four on ASTRA 2C and one previously contracted on the Sirius 4 satellite.

Alexander Oudendijk, Chief Commercial Officer of SES ASTRA, said: "We are very pleased that SatGate has decided to resume services at 31.5 degrees East. With the move of ASTRA 2C we have demonstrated our strong commitment to develop 31.5 degrees East into an important position, especially for Central and Eastern Europe.

"The decision of SatGate shows that there is a strong demand for satellite capacity in this region and proves our customers' confidence in our high quality and reliable services."

Vitaliy Malashevskiy, CEO of SatGate UAB said: "Thanks to the cooperation with SES ASTRA SatGate is now able to deliver services to its customers from the 31.5 degrees East orbital position. SatGate is planning to extend its offers to its clients from this satellite position in the nearest future."