Yahsat wins SatCom operator of the year award

21st May 2014 By: Natasha Odendaal - Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

United Arab Emirates-based satellite service provider Yahsat has bagged the ‘Satellite operator of the year’ award at SatCom Africa, which was held in Sandton, on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Yahsat’s flagship product, YahClick, which was set to be fully operational in the company’s targeted regions by 2014, had driven the firm’s expansion throughout the Middle East, Africa, Central and south-west Asia.

YahClick, which had also secured Yahsat the SatCom Star award for the ‘Most innovative product/service for Africa’ for two consecutive years in 2012 and 2013, had been rolled out in 12 countries to date, including South Africa, Tanzania, Afghanistan, Yemen, South Sudan, Iraq, Kenya, Turkey and United Arab Emirates, with over 30 000 terminals shipped in its first year of operation.

“Yahsat has seen impressive growth since launching just two years ago,” said CEO Masood Sharif Mahmood, adding that over the past two years, Yahsat had provided connectivity to residents in unserved and underserviced areas across 28 countries.

The SatCom Star Awards, which were launched in 2007, aim to identify and recognise outstanding new contributions to the field of satellite communications in Africa.