CNES and French Guiana regional council sign digital partnership agreement

In the presence of Geneviève Fioraso, Secretary of State for Higher Education and Research, CNES President Jean-Yves Le Gall and Rodolphe Alexandre, President of the French Guiana regional council, signed a partnership agreement to boost digital connectivity in French Guiana.

French Guiana’s regional council is aiming to improve digital connectivity across French Guiana, using satellites to provide comprehensive and coherent coverage in support of public digital planning policy and to optimize public investment while accommodating CNES’s future needs in pursuit of the continuing development of space activities.

This project will complement existing fixed and mobile telecommunications infrastructures (telephony and Internet) and boost French Guiana’s connectivity with Europe and the rest of the world. Satellites are the best way to do this, which is why it has been decided to expedite deployment of a satellite payload and associated ground segment, to be operated by a local Guianese public firm.

To secure funding for the project, the regional council plans to apply to the fast broadband mission and the national digital society fund (FSN). CNES will establish the specifications for the Call for Expressions of Interest (CEI) through which private firms will be approached to define the telecommunications satellite services that French Guiana will need in the medium and long terms. CNES will also provide assistance and expertise in setting up the requisite organization for the project.

At the signing of the agreement, CNES President Jean-Yves Le Gall stated: “CNES is very honoured that the French Guiana regional council has asked us to work on this ambitious project to extend digital and Internet connectivity across French Guiana with satellite technologies. This is yet another example of the key benefits that space is bringing to citizens’ daily lives.”


CNES press contacts
Alain Delrieu Tel. +33 (0)1 44 76 74 04 alain.delrieu@cnes.fr
Julien Watelet Tel. +33 (0)1 44 76 78 37julien.watelet@cnes.fr
Pascale Bresson Tel. +33 (0)1 44 76 75 39 pascale.bresson@cnes.fr
www.cnes.fr/presse

CP090 - 2014 - Numerique Guyane_va.pdf (pdf - 159.01 KB)