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SES Broadband

Two-way satellite broadband Internet service

SES Broadband (previously ASTRA2Connect) is a two-way satellite broadband Internet service available across Europe, which launched in March 2007, and uses the Astra series of geostationary satellites. SES Broadband is owned and operated by SES Broadband Services, a subsidiary of SES, based in Betzdorf, Luxembourg.2 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 21, 2026.

Overview

  • IndustryInternet1

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SES Broadband, Gilat Ka-band kit
Photo: Speedy 1, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons4

SES Broadband (previously ASTRA2Connect) is a two-way satellite broadband Internet service available across Europe, which launched in March 2007, and uses the Astra series of geostationary satellites.2

Products and brands

  • internet service provider

Listed on Wikidata.1

Technology

SES Broadband uses a satellite link to carry IP data in both directions between the central hub and remote terminals. At the hub, routers connect to the Internet backbone and IP data is embedded in a DVB-S2 format carrier to be uplinked to the satellite from SES' teleport and, from there, downlinked to the remote terminal where the signal is received with a domestic-type dish for the satellite internet modem, which extracts the IP data for the end user's PC.

The return path is handled in a similar fashion, but with a low power 500 mW transmitter on each terminal dish providing the uplink to the satellite, with multiple-frequency time division multiple access techniques employed to handle many remote terminals simultaneously. SES Broadband combines 2 standards for the return path: Satmode for modulation and coding and DVB-RCS for the access scheme.

The central hub and terminal technology is developed by a Belgian company called Newtec.

SES Broadband uses the Astra 3B communications satellite at the 23.5° east orbital position to handle uplinks and downlinks in both directions. A number of transponders are used for the hub-to-terminal downlink in the satellite TV downlink segment of the Ku band (10.70 GHz-12.75 GHz). The terminal-to-hub uplink to the satellite uses the uplink segment of the Ku band (14.00 GHz-14.50 GHz) and extended Ku band (13.75 GHz-14.25 GHz)

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Marketing

SES Broadband services are sold to residential users by a number of ISPs in partnership with SES. Such partnerships operate either exclusively or in competition within different regions and countries of Europe. Germany was the first country to receive access to SES Broadband (then ASTRA2Connect) services. SES currently has partnerships with ISPs to provide SES Broadband services in Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland, Spain and the UK, with partnerships in other countries under negotiation.

The service provider is typically responsible for marketing and selling the SES Broadband service, providing home and business installations, billing, and running a subscriber helpdesk. SES Broadband Services provides the (SES) satellite capacity, a DVB/IP Internet platform, uplink services, Internet backbone connectivity, subscriber activation and monitoring, and technical support for the service provider.

The first service provider in Germany was ISP, Filiago and in the UK, BeyonDSL. In the UK, customers of BeyonDSL purchase the SES Broadband terminal equipment for £300, pay a £50 registration fee and a monthly fee according to the package chosen with one-off allowance extensions available for additional payment:

From Wikipedia’s article on SES Broadband, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3

Sources

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