Under the patronage of His Excellency the Saudi Minister of Culture and Information
Arabsat signs two contracts for manufacturing and launching the first Satellite in its 6th generation of satellites, With a total value exceeding 400 million U.S $.
Arab Satellite Communications Organization (Arabsat) held a ceremony today in Riyadh under the patronage of HE the Saudi Minister of Culture and Information Prof. Abdul Aziz Bin Mohey Aldeen Khoga, attended by HE Minister of Telecommunications and Information Technology Eng. Mohamed Gamil Bin Ahmed Molla and HE the French Minister of Economic Regeneration Mr.Arnaud Montebourg in addition to the presence of a highly representatives of the private & governmental field of Telecommunications and Media and a numerous local and international press.
Arab Satellite Communications Organization (Arabsat) and the consortium of two companies Astrium and Thales Alenia Space and the company of Arianespace have signed 2 contracts for manufacturing and launching the first satellite in Arabsat 6th generation of satellites Badr -7.
Eng. Khalid bin Ahmed Balkhyour President & CEO of Arabsat said that the contracts for manufacturing and launching Badr-7 that were signed today worth more than 400 million U.S $, and the new satellite Badr-7 will be co-located at Arabsat exclusive Hot Spot 26*E with Arabsat other satellites known as BADR. Badr-7 will provide massive satellite capacities for television broadcasting, Telecommunications and information exchanging services in Ku-band in addition to the broadband services in Ka-band.
What is worth saying is that 6th generation satellites are a quantum leap in terms of the manufacturing technology and the capabilities of these satellites. Badr-7 will be manufactured by the consortium of Astrium that will manufacture the highly reliable Eurostar E3000 platform and Thales Alenia Space that will design and build the communications payload, while the Global company Arianespace will launch the Satellite. The new satellite will cover the Middle East, Africa, Asia and many parts of Europe.
For further information, please contact:
Saad Al Tehaif, ARABSAT PR & Media Manager
saadt@arabsat.com
About Arabsat:
Founded in 1976, Arabsat has been serving the growing needs of the Arab world for over 30 years. Now one of the world’s top satellite operators and by far the leading satellite services provider in the Arab world, it carries over 450 TV channels, 160 radio stations, 3 Pay-TV networks and wide variety of HD channels reaching tens of millions of homes in more than 80 countries across the Middle East, Africa, Europe–and way beyond around the world–including an audience of over 170 million viewers in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region alone tuned into Arabsat’s video “hotspot” at 26* East.
Operating a growing fleet of owned satellites at the 20* East, 26* East, 30.5* East and 34.5* East positions of the geostationary orbit, ARABSAT is the only satellite operator in the MENA region offering the full spectrum of Broadcast, Telecommunications and Broadband services. This capacity will continue to expand with the launching of new satellites, making the ARABSAT satellites’ fleet the youngest in the region.
