SOUTH African telecoms utility Telkom has awarded US-based broadband supplier Hughes Network Systems and its local partner Plessey a four-year contract to supply satellite-based communications systems. Hughes will supply and support Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) communications solutions within South Africa and the wider continent. It declined to give a value for the deal. The VSAT service will be used by Telkom’s SpaceStream division, which provides network solutions to the financial services, retail, energy, manufacturing and government sectors. – Reuters