LONDON -- Avanti Communications Group plc (AIM: AVN), is delighted to announce that it has signed a 5 year agreement with BT for the provision of satellite broadband services via its HYLAS 1 satellite, successfully launched into orbit on November 26th 2010.

Under this agreement, Avanti will supply satellite broadband services as required by BT as part of a recently announced £132 million next generation access project in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, of which BT is a major partner. The agreement is not limited to Cornwall, however, and will allow BT to provide satellite broadband services to other parts of the UK. The estimated contract value is £1.2m.

The Cornwall and Isles of Scilly project expects to offer alternative technologies, such as satellite broadband, to the minority of homes and business in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly which remain unable to receive super-fast fibre broadband. It shows how the challenge of next generation broadband access in rural areas can be met and that a combination of technologies delivered by specialists, can ensure that the hardest to reach areas of the UK need not be left behind when it comes to high speed broadband.

Avanti Communications Group plc