At a press conference today in Cannes, WORLDSAT, a wholly owned
subsidiary of SES AMERICOM, an SES GLOBAL Company (Euronext Paris;
Luxembourg and Frankfurt Stock Exchanges:SESG) announced that its
WORLDSAT-2 (WS-2) spacecraft, the first Spacebus 4000 spacecraft
manufactured by Alcatel Space, is ready for final testing and then for
shipment to Baikonur, Kazakhstan for its planned launch in the fourth
quarter. It was also announced that SES ASTRA of Luxembourg, an SES
GLOBAL Company, will be using WS-2 to expand its reach into Africa.
WORLDSAT-2 is a high-powered C-band satellite that will operate
from 37.5 degrees West. The large, state of the art spacecraft has 72
transponders organized into three regional beams: North America, South
America and Europe/Africa. The satellite’s advanced design and high
power levels will support a wide range of applications…from tv
broadcasting to high-speed internet connections…facilitating
reception and higher data throughput to smaller C-band antennas.
WS-2’s extensive coverage reaches from the U.S. to the eastern reaches
of the Mediterranean…and from Cape Town, South Africa to Lima,
Peru. For additional flexibility and reach, the three beams may be
interconnected through on-board switching on an individual transponder
basis.
SES ASTRA of Luxembourg has contracted for 24 transponders from
the WS-2 Europe/Africa hemi beam and will market that capacity as
ASTRA-4A. Their efforts will be focused on delivering satellite
services to the entire African continent. This new capacity
complements the Ku-band services ASTRA offers in Africa via ASTRA 2B
at 28.2 degrees East. The other 13 satellites in the ASTRA fleet
deliver services throughout Europe.
“I compliment the Alcatel Space team for delivering a very
sophisticated spacecraft and for their flexibility as we tweaked the
satellite’s design to reflect the changing dynamics of a very
challenging marketplace,” said Andreas Georghiou, president of
WORLDSAT. He continued, “We are absolutely delighted that ASTRA,
Europe’s premier regional operator, is taking full advantage of our
intra-company economies of scale by utilizing a significant portion of
the WS-2 satellite to deepen their regional bandwidth resources.”
Ferdinand Kayser, President and CEO of SES ASTRA, said, “By
securing these high-powered C-band transponders from our sister
company, WORLDSAT, we realize the synergies foreseen by SES GLOBAL in
the formation of this world-wide enterprise. When added to our Ku-band
capacity already supporting customers in Nigeria and Ghana, the
ASTRA-4A C-band transponders give us a powerful and competitive
African punch.”
About WORLDSAT
WORLDSAT was created in 2003 by SES GLOBAL, the world’s largest
satellite company, as a subsidiary of SES AMERICOM, the New
Jersey-based operating company and the largest and highest quality
supplier of satellite services in the United States. WORLDSAT provides
customers with applications as diverse as mobile communications,
broadcasting, internet connections, and data networks, adding value
with unparalleled connections to the premier regional satellite fleets
including SES AMERICOM and SES ASTRA in Europe and Middle East and
Africa. The newly-formed business unit has satellites currently
operating at 108.2 degrees East (WORLDSAT-1, formerly AAP-1), 172
degrees East (Spacenet-4), 47 degrees West (TDRS-6), and 37.5 degrees
West (Satcom-C1). In addition, the company has two new satellites,
WS-2 and WS-3, planned for launch in 2004 and 2005, respectively. For
more information: www.worldsat.net.
About SES ASTRA
The ASTRA satellite fleet is Europe’s leading Direct-to-Home (DTH)
satellite system, delivering services to more than 94 million DTH and
cable households. The ASTRA fleet currently comprises 13 satellites,
transmitting in excess of 1400 analogue and digital television and
radio channels as well as multimedia and Internet services. ASTRA’s
two prime orbital positions for DTH services are 19.2 degrees East and
28.2 degrees East. Professional services like Direct-to-cable (DTC),
Satellite Newsgathering (SNG) and Occasional Use are offered from the
orbital positions of 23.5 degrees/24.2 degrees East and 5.2 degrees
East. For more information: www.ses-astra.com
Contact:
SES AMERICOM
Monica Morgan
Mob: +1-609-933-8442
O: +1-609-987-4143
Monica.morgan@ses-americom.com
or
SES GLOBAL
Jean-Paul Hoffmann
Mob: +352-021-193-490
O: +352-710-725-235
Jean-paul.Hoffmann@ses-global.com