Avanti Communications Group plc [AIM: AVN], has sold new capacity and services on its first satellite, HYLAS 1, to MPB, a longstanding partner in Eastern Europe on an initial three year contract valued at €443k. The broadband satellite operator and MPB collaborated in 2009 with the Hungarian Ministry of Education and Culture to provide broadband to Hungarian schools under a project supported by the EC’s Sixth Framework Research Programme. This pilot project has resulted in a commercial deployment for a 550 site network.

Commenting on the contract, David Williams, Avanti Chief Executive, said: "I am pleased that our process for filling up HYLAS 1 continues to work well. We now have a strong direct sales force in place. We provide deep technical and marketing support to our 59 customers around Europe who are, as a result, succeeding in winning large and complex project which require them to buy more bandwidth from us. This shows that we are managing the sales process properly, in addition to completing pioneering and large scale transactions, like the $17m HYLAS 2 sale announced last week.”