Saudi Arabia-based satellite operator Arabsat announced on Wednesday its collaboration with ST Engineering iDirect to integrate cloud technologies into its gateway infrastructure, aiming to expand its market reach in the Middle East, Africa, and West/Central Asia. This initiative is part of an extended partnership to enhance Arabsat’s BADR-7 Ka-band and 6A Ku-band satellite coverage, addressing connectivity challenges in regions with poor infrastructure.
Arabsat will deploy the next-gen iDirect Hub infrastructure to enhance its existing Dialog and Evolution-based ground systems across four new gateways. The iDirect Hub utilizes virtualization and cloud technologies to provide scalable, flexible solutions, achieving higher throughput and efficiency. This will lay the foundation for Arabsat’s transition to a virtualized, cloud-based hybrid infrastructure.
ST Engineering iDirect highlighted that this infrastructure supports their next-gen ground system “Intuition,” which offers end-to-end orchestration capabilities to accelerate service delivery and market entry. Arabsat’s new gateways will further expand its existing coverage, which currently serves locations in Africa, the Middle East, and parts of Asia, operating almost 30 beams on Ka-band, Ku-band, and C-band.
Alhamedi Alanezi, CEO and President of Arabsat, stated that the partnership will bring essential connectivity for managed services such as e-learning and disaster recovery to the targeted regions, while also expanding Arabsat’s service portfolio to provide superior satellite broadband experiences with competitive SLAs. Alanezi emphasized Arabsat’s commitment to ensuring fair distribution of broadband and maintaining a future-proof network.
Don Claussen, CEO of ST Engineering iDirect, expressed his company’s dedication to delivering flexible, future-ready solutions that support Arabsat in unlocking new markets and growth opportunities across media, enterprise, mobility, and broadband services.
Arabsat, wholly owned by the Arab League, noted that this expansion aligns with Saudi Arabia’s broader initiative to invest in space technology, diversify beyond the media and broadcast sector, and provide satellite internet capabilities to remote and underserved areas through its VSAT broadband business.
