SES Astra has signed an agreement with National Broadband Services that will allow it to offer its satellite-based broadband service Astra2 Connect in Ireland. Astra2 Connect can deliver dual or triple play services without terrestrial support and should help increase the penetration of broadband services in rural parts of the country. According to recent official data contained in the National Census of Ireland, almost one in five (320,000) of the country’s 1.5 million households do not have a telephone line. What is more, nearly 400,000 of 780,000 Internet homes still use dial-up connections.
