Sonema, a provider of telecommunication services in Europe and Africa, expanded its current agreement with Intelsat for contracted satellite capacity, which will increase Sonema’s enterprise services offerings. Sonema has been developing telecommunications services for more than two decades currently uses Intelsat’s capacity to provide satellite communication transmissions to businesses, such as financial institutions, in some of the most isolated regions of Africa.

Under this new multi-year contract, Sonema will use capacity on Intelsat’s IS-904 satellite located at 60º East, and renew its capacity contract on the Intelsat IS-1R satellite, located at 45º West. The satellite-enabled transmissions within Sonema’s telecommunications network will deliver critical services such as voice, Internet connectivity, video conferencing and financial transactions, to approximately 300 sites for 25 of the most established banks in sub-Saharan Africa.

“We are focused on developing new markets and providing the most modern telecommunications technology to developing areas of Africa,” said Gilles Datrier, CEO of Sonema. “The Intelsat network provides us a robust platform for expanding our offerings, and Intelsat’s technical expertise supports our team in all our efforts to achieve our growth objectives.”

“In developing regions, access to resilient communication technologies has been identified as a top-line objective for companies seeking to expand their offerings and become more competitive within the sectors they serve,” said Kurt Riegelman, Intelsat’s Senior Vice President, Global Sales. “By leveraging the flexibility and high quality of our global satellite fleet and ground infrastructure, enterprise service providers such as Sonema can establish international and regional networks with ease and speed.” Intelsat is currently exhibiting at AfricaCom 2008, the annual African event for mobile, fixed, wireless and satellite communications professionals, in Cape Town, South Africa.