Space Systems/Loral (SS/L), the leading provider of commercial satellites, today announced that it has been awarded a contract to provide two high-power satellites to Intelsat for Direct-to-Home (DTH) television service in Latin America. The two satellites will be operated by Intelsat, which will provide them to DIRECTV Latin America, a leading DTH digital television services operator in Latin America.
“Space Systems/Loral’s high-power heritage and record of reliability make them an excellent choice for this procurement,” said Thierry Guillemin, SVP and Chief Technical Officer of Intelsat, the world’s leading provider of satellite services. “The new satellites will help us support our customer’s expansion plans in this region of robust economic growth with all the bandwidth necessary for today’s most advanced television services.”
“The DLA-1 and DLA-2 satellites fuel the already stellar growth of the DIRECTV business in Latin America for new HDTV services, and provides full fleet redundancy for the reliability of these services for our customers,” said Romulo Pontual, DIRECTV Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer. “By working closely with Intelsat and SS/L, DIRECTV has been able to leverage the spot-beam frequency reuse technologies to greatly expand the capacity into Latin America with the industry’s best technology. The cooperation of these three powerful companies has produced a powerful architecture for our business.”
The Ku-band payloads will be used to expand DTH entertainment offerings and provide backup and restoration services. The two satellites are scheduled for launch in 2014 and 2015, respectively, and will be co-located with Intelsat’s Galaxy 3C satellite at 95 degrees W.
“Today’s highest power satellites maximize the amount of high-definition programming that can be broadcast and provide a better business case for the operator,” said John Celli, president of Space Systems/Loral. “Space Systems/Loral is the only satellite manufacturer with five 20-kW satellites currently on orbit and numerous others scheduled for launch over the next year. We are very proud of our heritage high-power technology and pleased to be able to continue to support the Intelsat and DIRECTV businesses.”
The two satellites are designed based on the decades proven Space Systems/Loral 1300 platform and the first is scheduled to launch in 2014. They are contracted to provide service for a minimum of 15 years.
About Intelsat
Intelsat is the leading provider of satellite services worldwide. For over 45 years, Intelsat has been delivering information and entertainment for many of the world’s leading media and network companies, multinational corporations, Internet Service Providers and governmental agencies. Intelsat’s satellite, teleport and fiber infrastructure is unmatched in the industry, setting the standard for transmissions of video, data and voice services. From the globalization of content and the proliferation of HD, to the expansion of cellular networks and broadband access, with Intelsat, advanced communications anywhere in the world are closer, by far.
About Space Systems/Loral
Space Systems/Loral, a subsidiary of Loral Space & Communications (NASDAQ: LORL – News), has a long history of delivering reliable satellites and spacecraft systems for commercial and government customers around the world. As the world’s leading provider of commercial satellites, the company works closely with satellite operators to provide spacecraft for a broad range of services including television and radio distribution, digital audio radio, broadband Internet, and mobile communications. Billions of people around the world depend on SS/L satellites every day. For more information, visit www.ssloral.com.
About Loral Space & Communications
Loral Space & Communications is a satellite communications company. Through its Space Systems/Loral subsidiary, the company is a world-class leader in the design and manufacture of satellites and satellite systems for commercial and government applications including direct-to-home television, broadband communications, wireless telephony, weather monitoring, and air traffic management. Loral also owns 64 percent of Telesat, one of the world’s largest providers of satellite services. Telesat operates a fleet of telecommunications satellites used to broadcast video entertainment programming, distribute direct-to-home video and broadband data services, and other value-added communications services. For more information, visit Loral’s Web site at www.loral.com.
