Viasat teams with Intercorp Perú on low-cost Internet service

CARLSBAD, Calif. and LIMA, Peru – Viasat Inc. (NASDAQ: VSAT), a global communications company, and Intercorp Perú Ltd., one of Latin America's largest business groups focused on providing financial, retail and education services, have entered into a definitive agreement to bring digital and social inclusion to communities in Latin America and the Caribbean using Viasat's proven satellite-enabled Community Internet system.

The two companies have been working together to assess geographic markets and to develop the infrastructures, ecosystems, business models and applications needed to successfully bring high-quality connectivity to the hardest-to-reach communities.

The notion of bringing internet anywhere is of high value to Intercorp. The Company has been looking for an internet service provider partner that could scale connectivity in an economically-sustainable way. This is because in addition to providing a wide-range of financial, retail and education services throughout Latin America, Intercorp has also partnered with IDEO to create Innova Schools, a best-of-breed school system in Peru, and to establish La Victoria Lab, an innovation team whose purpose is to improve the lives of Peruvian people through human-centered design. High-quality connectivity is fundamental to expand opportunities in education.

How the service works

The Viasat Community Internet service uses a centralized satellite-enabled hotspot to connect to a Viasat or partner satellite and deliver internet service to communities that previously had little or no internet connectivity. The Viasat Community Internet service seeks to improve the quality of life of unserved and underserved individuals, families and businesses by giving them better access to online tools and resources across education, healthcare, food production, financial services and security, to name a few markets, while also promoting social inclusion.

Markets served

Under the terms of the Viasat/Intercorp agreement, the satellite connectivity service will align with the ViaSat-2 satellite footprint as well as future ViaSat-3 satellite coverage over Latin America. Initial coverage areas will include Jamaica, Guatemala and Honduras with parts of South America expected to be served once the ViaSat-3 satellite is in service. Intercorp will provide additional investment and local resources to speed the deployment, as well as assist with distribution and fulfillment locally. The agreement is initially focused on connecting the unconnected via Community Internet yet envisions expansion opportunities into other vertical markets across the region.

Local distribution partners Viasat and Intercorp have partnered with CBC, a multinational corporation of beverages that operates in Central America, the Caribbean and South America. CBC is most-widely recognized as the oldest bottler of PepsiCo outside of the U.S. and is the anchor PepsiCo bottler for nine markets in Latin America and the Caribbean, including Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico, Ecuador and Peru. Other strategic CBC alliance partners include being the bottler for Ambev, the largest beer company in the world and Beliv, one of the largest growing nutritional health beverage companies in Latin America.

Read the full announcement here.

Viasat