Telebras, defense ministry agree on military use of satellite

Brazil's state-run telco Telebrasand the country's defense ministry signed an agreement formalizing the use of part of the capacity of the future geostationary defense and strategic communications satellite (SGDC) for military communications, a Telebras statement said.

Under the terms, the country's armed forces will make use of the satellite in the X band, while the Ka bank will be used by Telebras to take broadband to remote areas of Brazil, particularly to parts of the Amazon region where fiber optics cannot reach.

Boosting the use of satellite and fiber optics to effectively "universalize" broadband nationwide is one of the chief ICT proposals of President Dilma Rousseff if she wins a second term in October's elections.

The satellite is being built in France by Thales Alenia Space, selected in an international tender held by Visiona, a JV created by Telebras and Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer to oversee the SGDC project.

In May, Brazil earned 153mn reais (US$70mn) in a tender that awarded four new satellite positions - including one in the Ka band.

The satellite is scheduled to be launched by Arianespace in 2016 from a base in French Guiana. It will be the 12th satellite launched by Arianespace for Brazilian telecommunications operators.