Arqiva has announced a landmark agreement with Gulfsat, a leading Kuwaiti communications company and regional satellite operator, marking a significant expansion of Arqiva’s presence in the Middle East.

The three-year agreement will see Arqiva provide Gulfsat with a managed service encompassing fibre connectivity and the uplink of four Ku-band transponders from Arqiva’s Chalfont and Crawley teleports onto Eutelsat 8WB.

The solution delivers a fully managed, end-to-end uplink service, combining resilient global fibre connectivity, integrated infrastructure, and 24/7 operations, while providing secure, geographically diverse, ex-region uplink services from outside the Middle East to strengthen business continuity, operational resilience, and long-term service assurance for regional broadcasters and operators.

Gulfsat selected Arqiva for its global connectivity, geographically diverse European uplink capability serving MENA beams, robust World Teleport Association (WTA) Tier-4-graded UK infrastructure, and strong reputation for operational excellence.

While the agreement meets Gulfsat’s immediate requirements, it also creates the potential for future collaboration across Arqiva’s expanding Media Services portfolio, including areas such as cloud playout, headend services, monetisation, streaming, and CDN.

Gaurav Jandwani, Executive Director, Media & Broadcast at Arqiva, commented, “This partnership with Gulfsat is a testament to Arqiva’s commitment to delivering innovative, reliable solutions for customers across the globe. “By combining Arqiva’s world-class infrastructure with Gulfsat’s regional expertise, we are uplinking Gulfsat’s services from the UK, giving them a resilient, geographically independent platform backed by the redundancy built into our teleport and network operations. It’s a model we’re ready to extend to operators and broadcasters across the Middle East and Africa.”

Mustafa Murad, CEO, Gulfsat added, “Arqiva’s reputation for operational excellence and robust infrastructure made them a natural partner as we expand our media services across the region. We were particularly impressed by the speed of execution, with the entire service stood up in just a few months. Their ability to deliver secure, reliable, end-to-end connectivity, combined with a collaborative approach and deep technical expertise, gives us the confidence to serve our customers with the highest standards. We look forward to building on this partnership and exploring new opportunities together in the future.”