Avanti Communications Group has announced that HYLAS 2, its second satellite, will launch at approximately 9.50pm UK-time on 2 August 2012 upon an Ariane 5 launch vehicle.

HYLAS 2, which has almost three times the bandwidth capacity of HYLAS 1, will substantially increase the Company's international coverage. It will provide high speed data capacity to a growing range of telecoms, enterprise and government customers in fast growing markets in Eastern and Southern Africa, the Middle East and across the Caucasus.

HYLAS 2 will deploy 24 fixed beams and one steerable beam utilising pioneering Ka-band technology, offering customers flexibility and significantly improved use of spectrum, delivering increased speeds and data throughput at a much lower cost.

David Williams, Avanti founder and CEO, said: "HYLAS 2 services are already in great demand across The Middle East and Africa. The supply of capacity falls greatly short of this demand.

"In sub Saharan Africa, where there are more than .5 billion people who live more the 25km away from a fibre network, the GDP growth in that region is running at 6% per annum.

"Seven of the world's top ten fastest growing economies are to be found in Africa, therefore we are delighted to be doing business on a continent where economic growth is not constrained by economic factors.

"We are also pleased to be bringing the freedom of communications to a new generation of public sector, business and consumer customers."