ViaSat Inc. (Nasdaq:VSAT) has received a $46 million contract award from Star Satellite Communications Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of Al Yah Satellite Communications Company PrJSC (Yahsat), for SurfBeam 2 network infrastructure and initial customer premises terminals. The equipment will power an advanced new high-speed Internet access service called YahClick. Under the contract, ViaSat will deliver and install four complete satellite broadband gateways, provide equipment and installation for a network control center, supply a pilot production quantity of user terminals, and support Yahsat with network operations and maintenance services.

YahClick, targeted to enterprise customers and consumers in the Middle East, Africa, and Southwest Asia, is expected to go live upon the launch of YahSat’s second satellite, Y1B in the second half of 2011. Y1B includes a spot-beam Ka-band payload designed to support broadband access networks for a range of applications. Ka-band spot beam satellites re-use frequencies to maximize spectrum efficiency for more network capacity. On the ground, the design enables use of smaller, lower cost terminals, antennas, and transceivers. The nexgen SurfBeam 2 network is designed for the latest Ka-band spot beam satellites. The system has been selected to bring to market well over 200 Gbps of aggregate satellite capacity serving four continents in the next few years. That capacity represents more than a ten-fold increase over the combined global Ka-band capacity in service today.