COMSAT has announced a seven year Master Distribution Agreement (MDA) with London-listed Avanti Communications plc (AVN.L). COMSAT will benefit from the Avanti advanced satellite fleet and particularly from the Hylas 4 satellite, a High-Throughput Satellite (HTS), focused on the Middle East and Africa. In turn, Avanti will gain immediate access to US global governmental and military activity that may otherwise take multiple years to gain approval to serve. Hylas-4, with four uniquely steerable HTS beams and a further 64 Fixed beams, will enter service in September, 2018. The agreement will allow COMSAT to offer advanced, complete service packages to its customers, with focus on Africa and the Middle East and on particular high-value deployments currently planned or underway.