AeroTelesis announced Thursday it has signed an agreement with one of its strategic partners, Mabuhay Satellite Corp., to become the first beta partner to utilize Ultra Spectral Modulation-based products.

USM is a proprietary modulation technique that significantly increases spectral efficiency in satellite and wireless applications, the company said in a news release.

Initially, Mabuhay will assist in the testing of USM technology and its commercial applications. On successful completion of a USM demonstration, aeroTelesis and Mabuhay will work on a beta test during which aeroTelesis will utilize one C-band and Ku-Band transponder from Mabuhay's Agila-2 satellite.

"We believe that USM technology will provide greater bandwidth efficiency for Mabuhay's existing satellite communications infrastructure," the release said.

AeroTelesis and Mabuhay have formed an advisory committee of eight members who will oversee the management and operations of the joint venture.

"We are excited to have Mabuhay's commitment to become the first beta partner for the USM technology," said Milton Hahn, chairman and chief executive officer of aeroTelesis. "Mabuhay has a deep experienced management team that is very capable of increasing its presence, particularly in the Philippines and in the Asia Pacific region."

"We are most pleased to partner with aeroTelesis in testing the satellite applications using Ultra-Spectrum Modulation," said Gabriel Z. Pimentel, president and CEO of Mabuhay Satellite. "USM promises to increase the throughput of the satellite several orders of magnitude beyond what is available by conventional means today."

Pimental said it would be "very interesting to eventually see the actual bits-per-Hertz performance that can be obtained in real-life satellite applications. USM is critical in order to make satellite based services more cost-effective through its high bandwidth efficiency."