Gilat Satellite Networks Ltd. (Nasdaq:GILTF) announced today that it will supply a hub and 300 very small aperture terminals (VSATs) of its popular SkyBlaster* 360 broadband platform, to China's Central Agriculture Broadcast and Television School (CABTS). CABTS has been nominated by the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture to run the National Farmers' Science and Technology Training Center and has established the China Distance Education Network. CABTS will use the VSAT technology to provide interactive distance-learning applications to its municipal schools.
Gilat, which has considerable experience in implementing rural satellite-based VSAT networks in China, is providing CABTS with a network consisting of a hub and 300 VSAT terminals, of which part of the equipment will be donated, in order to expand the current interactive distance learning education network already in use by CABTS.
CABTS was established in 1980. Since that time it has become one of the largest agriculture distance education schools in the world, with 38 provincial schools, 330 municipal schools, 2,408 county branch schools and 23,000 township classes, employing over 50,000 school staff. In 2000, CABTS implemented the China Distance Education Network using computers and two-way VSATs to link 54 Interactive Distance Learning stations to its provincial schools. The current initiative expands that project.
CABTS president Zeng Yi Chun said, "This project will improve the level of agriculture distance education technology in China. It also will enable us to utilize our experience using two-way VSATs for interactive distance learning and to facilitate the dissemination of important information to the farmer population in rural China during times of crisis. It will play a significant role in promoting farmer education and training in rural China."
Gilat general sales manager for China Avi Shabtai said, "This is not the first time Gilat equipment has been deployed in China for rural applications where the flow of information is crucial. Gilat's rural telephony equipment has been installed in thousands of villages in the rural regions of Xingjiang and Tibet enabling local residents to communicate with the Provinces' central locations. There is considerable opportunity to expand these services to other regions of the country, especially in the agricultural market."
Shabtai added: "When the SARS epidemic broke out, the farmers in the rural areas of China became very vulnerable. Gilat is pleased to be assisting CABTS, an organization that has already demonstrated proven ability to deliver distance education to where it is really needed, in its efforts to deliver education to farmers using modern distance education technology." Gilat has several VSAT networks already operating in China. The company was the first to sign an over 1,000-site large-scale rural telephony network in Xingjiang Province as well as a 1,300-site network in Tibet. In addition the Company's VSAT networks support flood monitoring and control for the Water Resource Ministry and monitor seismological movement that could lead to earthquakes for the Chinese Seismological Bureau. Additional networks have been deployed to deliver data applications, postal services, data-collection, and distance learning for a variety of Chinese companies.
Published by Globes [online] - www.globes.co.il - on 07 January 2004