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February 2010
SATELLITE UPDATES
NSS-12
ENTERS SERVICE
NSS-12
owned by SES World Skies has entered into commercial
service at 57 degrees East.
It
will deliver DTH service through 4 regional Ku-band
spot beams to the Middle East, Europe, Central and Southern
Asia, and Eastern Africa.
The
satellite carries 40 C-band and 48 Ku-band transponders
with DTH power levels as well as beam interconnectivity
and C-/Ku-band cross-strapping.
In
a statement, SES World Skies CEO Robert Bednarek said
"The satellite provides significant incremental
capacity and an integral part of our manifest to increase
the in-orbit capacity of our 25-satellite strong SES
World Skies fleet."
INTERSPUTNIK
TAKES 16 TRANSPONDERS ON W7
Intersputnik
International Organization of Space Communications has
permanently rented 16 full transponders on Eutelsat's
new satellite - W7.
The
W-7 satellite is co-loacted at Eutelsat's 36° East
slot, with the older W-4 satellite. All 16 transponders
have been booked for the entire life of the satellite.
Intersputnik
will sub-lease these transponders for the Russian and
Ukrainian markets. It will in particular provide new
resources for the Gazprom Media Group to boost the range
of channels offered in its NTV Plus and Tricolor platforms.
The transponders will also provide satellite broadband
access to homes beyond range of terrestrial broadband
networks.
Commenting
on the agreement, Michel de Rosen, Eutelsat's CEO, said
"The arrival on station of our powerful new W7
satellite is a significant landmark. Today, with almost
200 satellite channels and an audience of over 6 million
subscribers, the Russian satellite TV market is exceptionally
dynamic and shows significant potential for continued
growth. With the colocation of W4 and W7, Eutelsat has
doubled broadcasting capability at 36° East."
SES
WORLD SKIES REBRANDS FLEET
SES
World Skies has updated its naming convention for future
satellites. Three of SES' new Orbital Sciences-built
North American satellites will be named SES-1, SES-2
and SES-3.
NSS-14,
under construction by Space Systems/Loral (SS/L) and
scheduled for launch in the first quarter of 2011, has
been renamed SES-4.
The
NSS-806 replacement satellite, under negotiation with
vendors, will be named SES-6.
The recently purchased ProtoStar-2 satellite will also
be renamed under the new name system.
AFRICAN
B'BAND FROM ASTRA
Astra
Broadband Services and Intersat Africa will launch satellite
broadband to customers in East and Central Africa in
early February.
The
service, Get2Net, will initially be launched in Kenya,
Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi & later expanded
to Nigeria, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Senegal and Guinea in
West Africa.
To
connect to the Astra2Connect broadband platform, customers
will need a 100-centimeter antenna and a satellite modem.
It will also provide VoIP services.
AFRICASAT-2
ENTERS SERVICE
Measat's
AfricaSat-2 commenced service on 13 Jan.
The
satellite provides both C and Ku-Band capacity for telecommunications
and broadcasting services across Africa, Southern Europe
and the Middle East from an inclined orbital slot at
5.7 degrees East.
The
satellite is actually the aging (1996) Measat-2, and
is reportedly deployed at the 5.7 degree slot, to activate
that orbital location, and hold it till Africasa-2A
is launched in early 2011.
2ND
VIETNAMESE SAT BY 2012
Vietnamese
Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has agreed to launch
Vietnam's second telecommunications satellite by 2012.
The state-run Vietnam Posts and Telecoms Group to be
the sole investor of Vinasat-2.
The
Vinasat-2 satellite will cost between $290 million and
$350 million and aims to boost the development of the
country's telecom market.
Vietnam's
first satellite Vinasat-1, was built by Lockheed Martin
and launched in April 2008. Operating from 132 deg East,
the $300 million spacecraft is operating at 70% of its
capacity, providing data and broadcast coverage to Southeast
Asia, China, India, North Korea, Japan, Australia and
Hawaii, with regional oil and gas companies as its major
customers.
NIMIQ
6 ORDERED
Canada's
Telesat has confirmed its order for the Nimiq-6, to
Space Systems/Loral.
Nimiq
6 will be fully leased for its entire life to Canadian
broadcaster Bell TV. It will provided enhanced capacity
to Bel TV for delivering high-definition television
and other video services across Canada.
Loral
Space & Communications Inc. is one of the 2 principal
share holders of Telesat.
Telesat
is the world's fourth largest fixed satellite services
operator. It has a fleet of 12 satellites with 2 more
under construction. It also manages the operation of
an additional 13 satellites for third parties.
CANUK-1
KA BAND SAT PLANNED
Canada's
OmniGlobe has applied for an orbital slot to launch
Canuk-1, a medium-sized spacecraft, in the third quarter
of 2013.
OmniGlobe
plans to procure, launch and operate a Ka-band FSS geostationary
communications satellite over Canada. It will be deployed
for broadband Internet, Voice-over-IP, virtual private
networks, videoconferencing, cellular telephony and
telemedicine.
KA
BAND B'BAND FOR CANADA
Loral
Space & Communications has sold all capacity on
its ViaSat-1 to Canadian broadband provider Barrett
Xplore to deliver high-throughput satellite Ka-band
capacity on ViaSat-1 for Barrett Xplore customers in
Canada. This will provide 15 gigabits per second of
broadband bandwidth.
ViaSat-1
is under construction at Space Systems/Loral and scheduled
for launch in early 2011.
6
NEW GLOBALSTAR SATS THIS YEAR
Globalstar
will launch 6 satellites during a 90-day window that
opens on July 5. They will all be launched by Arianespace
from the Baikonur Cosmodrome using a Soyuz rocket.
The
new Globalstar satellites will provide legacy and enhanced
next-generation satellite voice and data services for
atleast the next 15 years.
ASIASAT
ENABLES VIETNAM DTH
Vietnam
Multimedia Corp. (VTC) has leased multiple Ku Band transponders
on AsiaSat 5.
VTC
will use the capacity to support a new premium DTH service
in Vietnam in early 2010. AsiaSat 5 will distribute
up to 30 HD and 70 SD television channels to households
in Vietnam.
NOKIA's
FREE GPS
Nokia
will offer the premium version of its GPS Ovi Maps for
free on a number of its devices.
This
is to counter Google's free Google Maps Navigation application
for the 2.0 version of its Android cellular operating
system.
Nokia
released its free application in 74 countries and in
46 languages worldwide, on 10 Nokia handsets, viz: the
N97 Mini, 5800 XpressMusic, 5800 Navigation Edition,
E52, E55, E72, 5230, 6170 Navigator, 6730 Classic and
X6.
RAYTHEON
SUB-CONTRACTS GAGAN SYSTEM
Raytheon
has sub-contracted Madrid based GMV to develop ionospheric
depletion detection technology for the Indian Space
Research Organisation's (ISRO) GPS-Aided Geosynchronous
Augmented Navigation System (GAGAN) program.
GAGAN
is designed provide satellite-based navigation for civil
aviation across South and East Asia.
WORLDVIEW-2
OPERATIONAL
Launched
in Oct 2009, DigitalGlobe's high-resolution WorldView-2
satellite is now fully operational, joining DigitalGlobe's
existing satellites, QuickBird and WorldView-1. n
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