France has selected electronics company Astrium to build the country's first digital, military ultra-fast broadband satellite communications network.

The Comcept contract from French military procurement agency DGA is for 17 years.

"As of 2014, Comcept will provide the French armed forces with access to additional broadband satellite capacity over and above that provided by the existing Syracuse system," Astrium said.

"Comcept will mainly utilize capacity on the French-Italian satellite Athena-Fidus (scheduled for launch within the next 12 months) and will also be compatible with future commercial satellite networks operating in Ka-band, which will provide global coverage."

Astrium said that under the award it will also be responsible for the engineering and testing of the system. Work will be conducted in partnership with co-contractor Actia Sodielec, a medium-sized satellite telecommunications company that will be responsible for the engineering, integration and operational maintenance of the systems ground stations.