A new agreement with MetTel brings Viasat business internet service to more U.S. businesses. The satellite service expands MetTel’s growing portfolio of connectivity offers.

It is initially available in the lower 48 states. It could expand into Puerto Rico, Mexico and other international markets.

Sean Sullivan is MetTel‘s vice president of product management and regulatory affairs. He said this agreement means MetTel’s channel partners can give customers another broadband option.

MetTel’s Sean Sullivan

“Not all of our customers are able to take advantage of traditional fiber or cable broadband solutions due to their geographic location, so the satellite service will enable our partners to provide alternative broadband service to those customers in hard-to-reach or remote areas,” Sullivan said. “For example, customers in remote locations that do not currently have access to broadband can take advantage of this service.”

Rural America’s High-Speed Woes

According to Pew Research Center, nearly one in four rural Americans say lack of high-speed connectivity is a major issue in their local community. It also affects businesses in underserved suburban and urban areas that need reliable, always-on connectivity and real-time communications.

“With the threat of downtime due to crises such as the COVID-19 epidemic, this satellite-based service is an excellent, reliable backup to wired and wireless connectivity,” Sullivan said.

MetTel will offer Viasat’s internet service as an option to MetTel’s business and government customer base. That expands MetTel’s coverage options in remote and hard-to-reach locations.

Viasat’s business internet service covers 96% of the U.S. population. It offers a variety of unlimited and metered data plans with download speeds up to 100 Mbps in select areas.

MetTel’s converged network pools the connectivity of more than 70 national and local carriers across North America.

“As Viasat plans to launch a low-Earth orbit (LEO) constellation of satellites in the next two years, MetTel and our partners will be able to offer even higher bandwidth satellite services to customers,” Sullivan said.

“With Viasat as part of MetTel’s business continuity solutions, customers get a more resilient service that combines traditional land-based connectivity with Viasat’s space-based internet,” said Cody Catalena, Viasat‘s vice president and general manager of global business solutions.