Satellite Internet Provider Announces Service for Puerto Rico, USVI Markets

Viasat, Expedition Communications to offer broadband to businesses, government

SAN JUAN – California-based communications company Viasat Inc., and Expedition Communications, a satellite internet and telecommunications company, announced Thursday their partnership to provide internet to businesses and government agencies in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Expedition, which has a regional office in San Juan, said that after “a typical three-day call-to-install setup,” will maintain and provide customer support for Viasat’s satellite internet service, which covers the islands with its ViaSat-2 satellite, which the release described as “the world’s most advanced high-capacity communications satellite.”

Viasat offers up to 200 megabits per second speeds to any type of infrastructure including “remote, temporary or mobile locations,” and bills its service as an alternative “business continuity back-up service.”

The two companies paired up after Hurricane Maria to provide connectivity to clinics throughout Puerto Rico, as seen in this video.

“All businesses, regardless of where they decide to set-up operations, should have access to a quality internet network,” Expedition CEO Dean Eldridge says in the announcing release. “By collaborating with Viasat, we are enabling businesses to adopt technologies that were previously unavailable to them.”

Cody Catalena, vice president and general manager of Global Business Solutions at Viasat added that, “working with Expedition Communications, we are able to support the expanding economies of both Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. We can provide businesses on both islands an opportunity to take advantage of the benefits of satellite internet—with speeds, reliability and affordability that keep a business running—continuously, even when other communication services are down.”

Viasat provides broadband and communications products and services worldwide, including in-flight internet and aviation software services to commercial airlines and mobile satellite broadband systems. It supplies “network-centric military communications and encryption technologies to the U.S. government,” and has a collaboration agreement with Facebook to “enhance the deployment of high-speed Internet to communities worldwide,” according to Bloomberg.

Article originated from Caribbean Business on April 4, 2019.