...Elara Comunicaciones, S.A. de C.V., a leading telecommunications supplier in Mexico, has begun implementing a large-scale satellite network to bring voice and data service to 2,717 towns in rural southeastern Mexico. The network, built on the iDirect Evolution platform, is part of Mexico’s “10K” program, overseen by the Ministry of Communications and Transport (SCT), to connect thousands of villages in Mexico that lack modern communications infrastructure.

The satellite network will bring voice and data connectivity for the first time to local citizens, schools, health care facilities, government agencies and other organizations. Elara was awarded the southeastern region following a competitive search for service providers to play a lead role in the prominent government initiative. Elara chose iDirect as its satellite communications platform and has begun installing the network following a fast-track schedule, backed by its team of more than 200 VSAT installation specialists in the region.

Leveraging iDirect X1 and X3 remotes, the network will feature multiple service levels comparable to terrestrial communications and can scale up to 2Mbps. Elara will provide service over a two-year period and plans to support future offerings such as IPTV, Virtual Private Network (VPN) access, Hotspot Wifi connectivity and fixed and mobile voice services. The entire regional network is scheduled to go live in spring.