After
years of intense negotiations involving the Costa Rican government
and Ohio Senator Rob Portman (the US Trade Representative,) Datzap
has finally received a license to offer VSAT services and systems in
Costa Rica.
According
to Mike Kister, President of VSAT Systems, the Akron, Ohio-based
Datzap is the first American company to enter the Costa Rican
marketplace, which the local government had monopolized for many
years. He calls the decision of the Costa Rican government to grant
Datzap its license the herald of a great day for VSAT and US business
in general.
The
satellite uplink facility and infrastructure of VSAT Systems,
Datzap's parent company, is now at the service of Costa Rica. From
there, customers can directly access to the U.S. Internet backbone,
whose performance and security are better than those provided by
local resellers of the Costa Rican national satellite system.
Datzat
is actively recruiting Costa Rican resellers into its fold by
offering hardware and service incentives worth $200,000.
VSAT
Systems operates three of the most sought-after geostationary
satellites in the Western Hemisphere. This satellite fleet will be
leveraged by Datzap to provide Internet-by-satellite and satellite communications
service anywhere in Central America and the Caribbean region. Datzap
plans to offer its VSAT services to diverse markets such as
agriculture, banking, cellular backhaul, disaster response, and the
retail grocery and restaurant trade.