MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. (TSX: MDA) has received a contract valued in excess of 15 million euros ($22.5 million CAD) from Thales Alenia Space to provide a number of advanced technology solutions. The solutions will be used for eight Medium Earth Orbit communication satellites that are being designed and manufactured for O3b Limited. O3b Limited will build a global Internet backbone for telecommunication companies and Internet Service Providers. These solutions will provide simultaneous data transmission and reception over Africa, Asia, Oceania and South and Central America — the majority of these areas are not connected to fibre networks.