NSI Global Inc has been awarded a $3.8 million contract to supply a broadband satellite communications network to the State Administration of Radio, Film & Television (SARFT) of the People’s Republic of China.

The network, comprising 49 sites and based on NSI’s VSATPlus II product line, will provide communications services to support SARFT’s Emergency Rescue System for Broadcasting, Film, Television and News Gathering. The network will provide MPEG-2 television and radio program exchange, TCP/IP data and telephony voice services using the powerful Frame Relay feature of the VSATPlus II.

“NSI’s strong local presence in China and their advanced VSAT technology were key factors in our decision to award this contract to NSI,” said Gao Nengjun, Vice Director of the Administrative Bureau of Radio Stations, responsible for the project.

“This contract underlines our strong competitive position in the Chinese market developed over the years through working hard to understand customer needs and providing excellent follow-up service,” stated David Ben-David, NSI President and Chief Executive Officer.

“Customers in China are responding positively to the versatility, reliability, special features, reasonable cost and technological superiority of NSI’s Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) networks. With this contract, total orders from customers in China since the beginning of 2002 are in excess of $10 million,” said John Barkwith, NSI’s Regional Director for Asia.

NSI offers broadband satellite networks using three VSAT terminals –VSAT Plus II, FlexiDAMA and SkyIP — that meet the requirements of a wide range of applications and services, including Internet access, enterprise networking, telephony trunking, tele-medicine, and video-conferencing. NSI has more than 3,500 of its VSATs deployed with customers in over 40 countries around the world.

Other customers in China using NSI’s VSATPlus II networks include the Pacific Insurance Company, Sichuan Province GSM Extension Project, Changqing Oilfield Company, and the China National Petroleum Corp.

The VSAT Plus II supports the most demanding network applications including high-quality voice, low and high-speed data, two-way video conferencing, and fax. The system is scalable, reliable and quick to deploy, and is the most cost-effective satellite communications solution for multi-line and/or multi-application networks in the world.

The State Administration of Radio, Film & Television (SARFT) of the People’s Republic of China reports directly to the country’s high-level State Council. SARFT’s responsibilities include overseeing the operation of China Central Television (CCTV), the national network, and supervising the operation of satellite and cable networks.