Cameroon's Equinoxe TV Uses BGAN from Stratos to Broadcast World Cup Coverage of National Soccer Team

Stratos Global, the leading global provider of advanced mobile and fixed-site remote communications solutions, today announced that Cameroon's Equinoxe Télévision successfully deployed Inmarsat's BGAN X-Stream mobile satellite service to broadcast news and match results of the Cameroon national team from the FIFA World Cup in South Africa. Equinoxe is one of only two private television stations in Cameroon, a country in western Africa with a population of more than 19 million.
 

 
The Cameroon national soccer team is Africa's most successful soccer team, having qualified for more World Cup tournaments than any other African nation. The team played in World Cup 2010 matches against Japan, Denmark and The Netherlands.
 
Equinoxe used a prepaid BGAN X-Stream solution from Stratos Channel Partner E-SAT (Levallois-Perret, France; e-sat.fr) for live broadcast and store-and-forward video clips to provide World Cup coverage to its home audience. Equinoxe aired 30-minute broadcasts every two days, while the national team was in contention from June 14-24.
 
Stratos prepaid airtime on BGAN offers a convenient solution for media and other organizations to control costs and plan monthly spending. Equinoxe also makes full use of Stratos' value-added services known as The Stratos Advantage, which enable customers to monitor airtime, restrict unauthorized usage, and manage costs. Most important, Equinoxe used Stratos Dashboard to carefully monitor end-user access and adhere to its prepaid traffic commitment.
 


 
"Our deployment of BGAN X-Stream for World Cup coverage exceeded our expectations," said Théophile Biamou, Chief Executive Officer of Equinoxe Radio and Chief Operating Officer of Equinoxe Télévision. "The Stratos prepaid BGAN solution does not require monthly fees, which makes it very affordable to deploy. We effectively used a free Mac-based encoding application. Also, our engineers found the system very easy to use."
 



BGAN from Stratos enables media organizations to perform at optimal levels at any remote location imaginable. Journalists can effectively use BGAN services with minimal training.

 
Stratos is one of the world's largest distributors of Inmarsat's BGAN (Broadband Global Area Network) service, a mobile satellite offering that uses portable, lightweight terminals to provide video (guaranteed up to 384 kbps streaming), high-speed data (up to 492 kbps) and voice connectivity anywhere in the world. The premium BGAN X-Stream service allows a guaranteed minimum video streaming rate of 384 kbps, with streaming up to 450 kbps expected under optimal conditions.
 
Stratos recently finalized joint-marketing agreements enabling close cooperation between leading codec developers and Stratos technical-support teams. In the coming months, Stratos intends to pursue the integration of these solutions into StratosNexus and The Stratos Advantage.