CARLSBAD, Calif., Mar 31, 2009 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- ViaSat Inc. (NASDAQ: VSAT) has received an $18 million contract award from Skylogic, the broadband subsidiary of Eutelsat Communications (Eutelsat Communications-Euronext Paris: ETL) for broadband gateway earth stations for the previously announced high-capacity KA-SAT Ka-band satellite system. ViaSat is under contract to deliver and install eight broadband earth stations throughout Europe, as well as provide maintenance and support services. The earth station gateways are designed to connect subscribers of Eutelsat Tooway(TM) satellite broadband service to the Internet. The ViaSat ground infrastructure will be available for the KA-SAT launch scheduled for mid-2010.

"This award solidifies our leadership position in Ka-band earth stations for broadband satellite communications. To date, we have delivered over 75 Ka-band earth stations to commercial and military customers worldwide," said John Zlogar, VP Antenna Systems at ViaSat.

The Tooway service operated by Eutelsat broadband subsidiary Skylogic is already supplying consumer broadband service using the Eutelsat HOT BIRD(TM) 6 and Eurobird(TM) 3 satellites and the ViaSat SurfBeam? networking system.

KA-SAT is a high capacity Ka-band spot beam satellite with planned coverage over Europe, the Middle East, and Northern Africa. With a capacity estimated at 70 Gbps, KA-SAT is expected to be (at launch) the highest capacity satellite in the world. KA-SAT is a European counterpart to ViaSat-1, a Ka-band satellite designed to deliver 100 Gbps of broadband capacity to the North American market, with a planned launch in 2011.

About ViaSat

ViaSat produces innovative satellite and other digital communication products that enable fast, secure, and efficient communications to any location. The company provides networking products and managed network services for enterprise IP applications; is a key supplier of network-centric military communications and encryption technologies to the U.S. government; and is the primary technology partner for gateway and customer-premises equipment for consumer and mobile satellite broadband services. The company has five subsidiaries: US Monolithics, Efficient Channel Coding, Enerdyne Technologies, Intelligent Compression Technologies and JAST. These companies design and produce complementary products such as monolithic microwave integrated circuits, DVB-S2 satellite communication components, video data link systems, data acceleration and compression products, and mobile satellite antenna systems. ViaSat has locations in Carlsbad, CA, and Duluth, GA, along with its Comsat Laboratories division in Germantown, MD. Additional field offices are located in Boston, MA, Baltimore, MD, Washington DC, Australia, China, India, Italy, and Spain.

Forward-Looking Statements

Portions of this release, particularly statements about the performance and deliveries of ViaSat products and technology, may contain forward-looking statements regarding future events and are subject to risks and uncertainties. ViaSat wishes to caution you that there are some factors that could cause actual results to differ materially, including but not limited to: the ability to realize the anticipated benefits of the ViaSat-1 satellite; pricing pressures and actions taken by competitors; satellite failures or degradations in satellite performance; difficulties in obtaining regulatory approvals; and unexpected expenses related to the project described herein. In addition, please refer to the risk factors contained in ViaSat's SEC filings available at www.sec.gov, including without limitation, ViaSat's annual reports on Form 10-K and ViaSat's quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date on which they are made. ViaSat undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements for any reason.

SurfBeam is a registered trademark of ViaSat.

Tooway, HOTBIRD and Eurobird are trademarks of Eutelsat.

Comsat Labs and Comsat Laboratories are tradenames of ViaSat, Inc. Neither Comsat Labs nor Comsat Laboratories is affiliated with COMSAT Corporation. "Comsat" is a registered trademark of COMSAT Corporation. All additional products are trademarks of their respective owners.

SOURCE: ViaSat Inc.

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