Advertisement

Viasat Expands Brazil Internet Service for Digital Inclusion

Viasat, Inc. VSAT recently announced the expansion of its residential Internet service to 14 more states in Brazil. As a result, the Carlsbad, CA-based communications company is offering service to more than 93% of the country’s population across 21 states. In July, Viasat launched its Brazil residential service in seven states and the Federal District.

Viasat has been investing in the South American country since 2018 and has set up a team with local expertise. The company is working with Visiontec to provide in-market sales and technical support. Available across all five major regions of the country, residents can now subscribe to Viasat’s satellite Internet service with speeds up to 20 Megabits per second and packages that offer up to 80 Gigabytes of data per month. This enables them to have access to online activities like video streaming content and work-from-home, among others.

Importantly, Viasat’s residential Internet service for Brazil uses bandwidth from the Telebras SGDC-1 satellite. The service is now going to expand to 14 additional states. These are Santa Catarina, Espirito Santo, Goias, Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, Bahia, Ceara, Alagoas, Sergipe, Maranhao, Para, Rondonia, Amapa and Acre. The service rollout is likely to be completed by the end of 2020. The company expects to be the only satellite Internet service provider capable to make high-speed Internet available across the country, upon completion of the project.

Viasat offers two competitively-priced plans — a basic plan (Viasat 10Mega) and an advanced plan (Viasat 20Mega). The company has been seeing tremendous demand for high-quality Internet service since the initial launch. The latest move underscores its commitment to bring reliable, high-speed satellite-based Internet service to more Brazilians. This, in turn, would help close the country’s digital gap.

Viasat holds a leading position in the satellite and wireless communications market. The company continues to make progress on its ViaSat-3 global constellation amid productivity challenges posed by COVID-19. That said, it expects to incur huge R&D costs relating to the commercial service launch of ViaSat-3 satellites, which can materially affect its margins and bottom line. Also, In-Flight Connectivity weakness resulting from the pandemic is likely to hinder Viasat’s revenue growth in fiscal 2021.

The stock has lost 10.9% in the past six months against 49.3% growth of the industry.



The company has a long-term (three to five years) earnings growth expectation of 20.5% compared with the industry’s 15.2%. It delivered a trailing four-quarter positive earnings surprise of 361.3%, on average.

Viasat carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), at present.

Some better-ranked stocks in the broader industry are Turtle Beach Corporation HEAR, Vocera Communications, Inc. VCRA and Acacia Communications, Inc. ACIA, each carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Turtle Beach delivered a trailing four-quarter positive earnings surprise of 41%, on average.

Vocera delivered a trailing four-quarter positive earnings surprise of 70%, on average. The company’s earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in three of the last four quarters.

Acacia pulled off a trailing four-quarter positive earnings surprise of 17%, on average. The company’s earnings topped the consensus estimate in three of the last four quarters.

More Stock News: This Is Bigger than the iPhone!

It could become the mother of all technological revolutions. Apple sold a mere 1 billion iPhones in 10 years but a new breakthrough is expected to generate more than 27 billion devices in just 3 years, creating a $1.7 trillion market.

Zacks has just released a Special Report that spotlights this fast-emerging phenomenon and 6 tickers for taking advantage of it. If you don't buy now, you may kick yourself in 2021.

Click here for the 6 trades >>


Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report
 
Viasat Inc. (VSAT) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Turtle Beach Corporation (HEAR) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Vocera Communications, Inc. (VCRA) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Acacia Communications, Inc. (ACIA) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
To read this article on Zacks.com click here.