To enter into service in early 2013, this powerful satellite will provide a significantly expanded mission and superior coverage across the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia to follow on from Eutelsat’s EUROBIRD^TM 2 satellite, which is currently operated at 25.5° East. In addition to securing Ku-band continuity for Eutelsat and additional Ku-band resources for ictQATAR, it will initiate a Ka-band capability to open business opportunities for both parties. The spacecraft’s multi-mission architecture will enable ictQATAR and Eutelsat to respond to demand for the fastest-growing applications in the Middle East and North Africa, including video broadcasting, enterprise communications and government services. The television market will in particular benefit from the installed base of more than 13 million satellite homes already equipped for Direct-to-Home reception from this neighbourhood.

Dr. Hessa Al Jaber, ictQATAR Secretary General said: “This is an important step forward as we work to meet the rapidly growing communications needs in the region. The collaboration between ictQATAR and Eutelsat on this strategic satellite is already proving advantageous as both teams were able to bring complementary insight and expertise to the decision-making process. In selecting Space Systems/Loral we followed a fair and transparent process.”

Michel de Rosen, Eutelsat CEO added: “Following on from the historic partnership signed with ictQATAR only two months ago, we are delighted to take a further step forward with the selection of prime contractor for our jointly-owned satellite. The close and positive collaboration with ictQATAR during this process adds even further weight to our conviction that we have begun a lasting relationship that will benefit both organisations. The powerful new spacecraft delivered by Space Systems/Loral will equip Eutelsat with the continuity we need at the 25.5° East position, which is already a pillar for video broadcasting in the Middle East and North Africa regions, and usher in new business opportunities for us in the Ka-band.”

John Celli, president of Space Systems/Loral said: “We look forward to working with Eutelsat and ictQATAR to help broaden the availability of communications technology in the region. Space Systems/Loral provides satellites to the world’s leading satellite operators and we are pleased to add Eutelsat and ictQATAR as new customers.”

“The growing global appetite for natural resources is rapidly driving mining concerns into emerging markets,” said Martin Creamer, Publisher of Creamer Media and Editor of Mining Weekly. “The need for cost-effective communications to support remote operations has never been greater. This agreement aims to strengthen understanding of how satellite and other complementary communications tools are being used to address critical mining challenges.”

“From workforce development and safety to remote monitoring and logistics, there are an increasing number of mining applications being addressed by satellite-enabled network solutions,” said David Hartshorn, Secretary General of GVF. “Through this agreement, Creamer Media and GVF intend to heighten awareness of innovative approaches that are producing positive results in the mining sector.”

Creamer Media’s Mining Weekly publication and MiningWeekly.com, which receives 43,000 unique visitors per week, will begin co-ordinating with GVF on industry news, event information, and special reports that reveal the impact of communications trends on each stage of the mining project life cycle, both for the majors and for the juniors.

In recent years, the satellite communications industry has experienced an escalation of signal interference, adversely impacting broadcast and telecommunication services. The Initiative has launched a multiple front campaign to combat this trend. The first aspect is a carrier ID working forum to pursue industry implementation of carrier ID: a means to identify interfering signals. The second aspect is the formation of the Space Data Association- an organization that will facilitate collecting and sharing interference event data amongst its satellite operator members. The third aspect is VSAT installer training.Installation by inadequately trained technicians is one of the main causes of interference identified by the Initiative. GVF has responded by enhancing the established VSAT Installer Training program to focus even more strongly on the skills necessary to avoid accidental generation of adjacent-satellite, cross-pol, and re-radiation interference.

As part of the Initiative, Intelsat has announcedtheir intent to train 400 installers per year through GVF for the next three years. SES has also formally adopted the GVF program, saying the training would help in its efforts to refocus the industry’s approach to managing and preventing interference. They have been joined by other satellite operators such as Eutelsat, Inmarsat, Telesat, Asiasat and others in endorsing the GVF’s new Basic Certification level and the associated online training course, GVF510, specifically targeted at delivering the core skills needed by field technicians to avoid creating VSAT-generated interference.

Whether it is mitigating uplink interference via the Basic Certification, providing solid knowledge and skills in VSAT installation, maintenance, and troubleshooting via the Advanced Certification, or gaining skills for installation, maintenance, and troubleshooting of specific equipment types via Specialist Certifications, the GVF Certification Program provides training for the knowledge and skills you need to be successful in the VSAT industry.

BBC Persian is also expected to be available on Nilesat soon.They will serve Farsi-speaking audiences across the Middle East, Europe and Asia. Since Friday 12 June the BBC Persian service, other BBC services, and the services of other broadcasters on Hotbird 6 have been subject to deliberate interference.BBC Arabic television and various language services have also been experiencing transmission problems including being off the air at various points. The satellite operator has traced the interference and has confirmed it is coming from within Iran. This interference is contrary to all international agreements for satellite usage to which Iran is a signatory.

BBC Persian television has extended its broadcast hours. There are an extra five hours of programming at Iranian breakfast and lunchtime, in addition to its usual evening broadcasts.Radio broadcasts have also been extended.BBC World Service Director Peter Horrocks said: “This is an important time for Iran and many Iranians are turning to the BBC for impartial and independent news and information during this crisis. “We hope that by adding more ways to access BBC Persian television, Farsi-speaking audiences can get the high-quality news, analysis and debate they clearly desire.

“We also hope this will lessen the impact on other broadcasters who have been affected by the interference.”Despite the interference, bbcpersian.com has experienced a huge growth in usage since the current protests began.Compared to traffic in May, the number of daily page impressions increased seven-fold to more than 3.6 million page impressions earlier this week. The number of visitors to the website has seen a four-fold increase.

Online users streaming BBC Persian television through bbcpersian.com have also increased. On Monday 15 June alone the stream was accessed nearly half a million times online - this is more video requests than the whole of last May.The BBC Persian YouTube channel showed an increase in usage until the Iranian authorities blocked the site to those within Iran last weekend.The huge growth in Iran’s usage of the BBC’s online services means Iran is now second only to the USA as the country which streams the most BBC World Service TV and radio services.BBC Persian has also been receiving user-generated content, such as videos and eye-witness accounts via email and phone, at a rate of up to eight per minute.

“We can provide the perfect solution to these requirements” said Jean-Claude Bisenius, Managing Director of atrexx. “We firstly evaluate the needs of the customer in order to propose an end-to-end solution using state-of-the-art SCPC equipment. We then calculate the link budget, procure the space segment required, program the modem, and help the customer to line-up the satellite with our teleport partners. When we are satisfied that everything is working to the end-user’s requirements, we pass over full control of the network to the customer. However, atrexx is always there to provide support and monitoring whenever it is needed.”

The complete, structured solution has several key advantages for the customer. It is scalable with small bandwidth increments, flexible and will grow as a business does. It also allows the customer to have overall control of the network without the involvement of any telecommunications or teleport provider - yet with the assurance of strong service partner support, should it be required. There is low latency, as all communications from headquarters to remote sites is via single hop. This is a strong benefit when compared to a traditional solution involving a hub station in Europe, resulting in double hop communication and thus double latency. The single hop solution proposed by atrexx only needs half the satellite bandwidth of a hub based alternative and thus is very cost-effective.

The service is made possible due to the use of new, high power satellites that lower customer’s investment. An antenna of typically 1.8 m in Ku-Band and 2.4m in C-Band is required at each side of the link. The hubless solution is thus as affordable to implement as a traditional VSAT network.

“Working across vast continents such as Africa, where conventional travel can sometimes be challenging, means large organizations need to maximize on the potential of communications technology,” said atrexx’ customer Olanrewaju Ore from KKON Technologies in Nigeria which have set up and provide support to a large bank network”. The bank needs to equal the efficiency across the world and atrexx has come up with a superb solution that allows us to achieve all this, and also to do it very cost effectively. The great support from atrexx has helped to have the complete satellite based corporate network up and running within days”, Mr. Ore continued.

Commenting after successful spacecraft separation, Eutelsat CEO, Michel de Rosen said: ?We are delighted to announce that our W7 satellite is on its way to 36° East, and we thank ILS and Khrunichev for responding to our requirements for quality, efficient and timely service. This new satellite will be a key pillar for our business development at a well-established neighbourhood, addressing dynamic markets with clear potential for sustained growth. W7 will support expansion of pay-TV platforms in Russia and across Africa. It will also give us headroom to expand telecoms and data activity in a vast region embracing Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Central Asia.

With three new satellites having already entered into commercial service in 2009 - HOT BIRD? 9, ATLANTIC BIRD? 4A and W2A - today?s launch also represents a new step forward in Eutelsat?s significant in-orbit expansion programme. Four additional satellites will follow W7 into orbit by the end of 2011 to equip us with the resources, flexibility and reach we need to capture further business opportunities in video, telecom and broadband markets.?

Based on the Spacebus 4000C4 design, W7 was built for Eutelsat by Thales Alenia Space. The satellite?s apogee motor will be fired three times over the coming five days to circularise its orbit and solar panels and antennas will be fully deployed by the beginning of next week. After an extensive round of in-orbit tests, the satellite will be commercially available at 36 degrees East in early January 2010.

Colocated with W4, Eutelsat?s new satellite will double resources at the 36 degrees East location. Through a configuration of up to 70 transponders connected to five high-performance fixed and steerable beams, it will provide coverage of Russia and sub-Saharan Africa for digital broadcasting services including pay-TV, and boost resources for video and telecom markets in Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia. The satellite will also enhance service provided since 2000 by SESAT 1, which will be redeployed at an alternative location following W7?s entry into service at 36° East and transfer of traffic.

W7 characteristics:

Prime contractor ? Thales Alenia Space

Platform: Spacebus 4000 C4

Launch mass: 5.6 tonnes

Solar array power: 15.8 kW

Payload power: 13.2 kW

Operational lifetime: 15 years

Many requests come from governmental organizations or from banks and large companies that wish to provide telecommunication links from headquarters in a city to multiple offices within a country or outside it. This type of connectivity is possible using Single Channel Per Carrier (SCPC) equipment, even if your requirement is to link up to several locations.

atrexx can provide the perfect solution to these connectivity requirements. We will firstly evaluate your needs fully in order to propose an end-to-end solution using state-of-the-art equipment enabling a shared outbound carrier. We will calculate your link budget, procure the required space segment, program the modems (including routing for your network), and help you to line-up to the satellite with our teleport partners. Thereafter, atrexx will pass over full control of the network to you.

The solution has several primary advantages: There is low latency as remote sites communicate with headquarters in a single hop. It is cost-effective, as only half the bandwidth compared to a hub solution is needed, and the investment is comparable to a classical VSAT. It allows the customer to have overall control of the network yet with the assurance of strong service partner support, should it be required.

 ”This marks a historical moment for ABS to enter into a strategic agreement with Eutelsat for cooperation at 75° East. W75/ABS-1B will bring increased Ku-band capacity to 75° East for the Middle East and CIS regions where the supply of Ku-band capacity is scarce and in high demand. This strategic cooperation will greatly benefit the customers of both Eutelsat and ABS who have been seeking expansion capacity in these regions. We will also bring forward the additional Ku-band capacity which will be provided on ABS-2 planned for 2012, two and a half years early. Our customers will be able to jump start their expansion plans in 2009 instead of having to wait until 2012,” said Tom Choi, Chief Executive Officer of ABS. “We are extremely proud to enter into this relationship with Eutelsat, one of the biggest operators in the world. We sincerely hope that this will be the first one of many opportunities that we can pursue with Eutelsat in the Asia Pacific Region.”

About Asia Broadcast Satellite

Asia Broadcast Satellite (ABS) is one of the fastest growing premium satellite operators in the world. Operating the ABS-1 and ABS-1A satellites at 75° East, it connects 4/5th of the world’s population covering all of Asia, the CIS region, the Middle East, most of Africa and Eastern Europe.
Leveraging its extensive coverage and operating its own full service, redundant teleport facilities in both Hong Kong and Germany, ABS is able to strategically and effectively offer a broad range of End-to-End solutions including CATV distribution, Direct to Home, Cellular Backhaul, VSAT and Internet Backbone services with diverse IP transit through its European and Asian internet gateways. ABS currently hosts over 90 channels on ABS-1, making it as one of the fastest growing and top satellite distribution platforms for CATV distribution in the Indian Ocean Region.

ABS is rapidly expanding its satellite fleet and business worldwide through the recent acquisitions of the Koreasat-2 satellite (renamed ABS-1A) and the Mabuhay Satellite Corporation’s Agila-2 satellite (renamed Agila-2/ABS-5). In addition, ABS has completed the procurement process for a new state-of-the-art high powered satellite, ABS-2, that is scheduled to become operational during the first half of 2012. The ABS-2 satellite will be one of the largest FSS satellites to be launched over the Eastern Hemisphere with 78 active transponders delivering over 14 kW of payload power. Together with ABS-1, the 75° East Longitude position will be the most powerful orbital location in the Asia Pacific / Indian Ocean region with over 22kW of power and expansive coverage with 122 active C, Ku and Ka-band transponders

 About Eutelsat Communications
Eutelsat Communications (Euronext Paris: ETL, ISIN code: FR0010221234) is the holding company of Eutelsat S.A.. With capacity commercialised on 27 satellites that provide coverage over the entire European continent, as well as the Middle East, Africa, India and significant parts of Asia and the Americas, Eutelsat is one of the world’s three leading satellite operators in terms of revenues. At 30 September 2009, Eutelsat’s satellites were broadcasting 3,300 television channels and 1,100 radio stations. More than 1,000 channels broadcast via its HOT BIRD^TM video neighbourhood at 13 degrees East which serves over 123 million cable and satellite homes in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. The Group’s satellites also serve a wide range of fixed and mobile telecommunications services, TV contribution markets, corporate networks, and broadband markets for Internet Service Providers and for transport, maritime and in-flight markets. Eutelsat’s broadband subsidiary, Skylogic, markets and operates services through teleports in France and Italy that serve enterprises, local communities, government agencies and aid organisations in Europe, Africa, Asia and the Americas. Headquartered in Paris, Eutelsat and its subsidiaries employ 615 commercial, technical and operational employees from 28 countries.

It has recently come to the attention of atrexx that some customers of satellite operators are dissatisfied with the fact that they are tied into long-term capacity leases, and there is no flexibility offered to them in terms of opting out of their contract or exchanging their bandwidth.

Markus Schäfer, Managing Director, Marketing and Sales at atrexx explained: “Reasons for customers’ dissatisfaction with their long term leases could be the economic situation taking its toll, or new capacity being introduced to the market that offers better coverage and higher power. Unfortunately, satellite operators will generally not bend on the terms of the contract leaving the customer with capacity that they cannot use. Other customers want to upgrade existing leases to respond to increased demand, and they cannot do so as all capacity has been sold.”

atrexx provides a valuable solution to these problems - the atrexx Trading Platform: Established in 2002, the Platform is a satellite marketplace, designed to bring buyers and sellers of satellite related resources and services together. The Platform offers free registration to both parties. Once registered, they are able to post their request or their available services onto the platform. All postings are publicly - yet anonymously - accessible worldwide, to everyone with access to the Internet. Updates are available by e-mail as well as through Twitter tweets and RSS feeds.

The Platform offers many advantages for both the buyer and the seller. The seller benefits by making a sale on capacity that would otherwise have not been used. From the buyer’s point of view, the atrexx Platform provides them with a great choice of suppliers and therefore enables them to find the best deal possible and to realize considerable savings. When satellite capacity is scarce, as is currently the case for Africa and the Middle East, the resale market is often the only source to satisfy specific requests, as satellite operators are often sold out.

Once the registrant has identified a post that attracts them, atrexx takes over. atrexx opens the bidding process with the supplier on the buyer’s behalf, pre-negotiating the contract terms and acting within a well-defined framework. All parties know exactly where they stand. atrexx has already helped many who have found that they no longer wish to hold on to their capacity.

Edwin Cras, Managing Director of Castor Broadcasting B.V., a leading provider of voice, video, data and multimedia solutions, based in the Netherlands, voiced his satisfaction: “Finding the right satellite capacity at the right price used to involve a lot of phone calls to hopefully the right people. Selling is even tougher; often you were looking for the needle in the haystack. With the atrexx Trading Platform finding capacity is much easier!” Mr. Cras continued: “Selling is even better; everybody looking for capacity can now find a seller with great ease. This helps to avoid empty capacity sitting on your books eating your profits away. We at Castor for sure have benefitted from the atrexx Trading Platform.”

The atrexx Trading Platform offers its users a simple and stress-free way of obtaining or dispensing with capacity. In an age where bandwidth is a precious commodity, atrexx is able to maximize usage of any capacity left idle and often to provide the resources that are urgently needed.

 Tooway^TM distributor Satellite Broadband Ireland will deliver the service under its recently won contract from 3, the leading Irish mobile broadband provider running the National Broadband Scheme on behalf of the Irish Government. Under the scheme, Tooway’s^TM satellite broadband service will be delivered to up to 5% of the 223,000 targeted buildings across rural Ireland. Those qualifying under the scheme will receive Tooway’s^TM 3.6 Mbps broadband service for €19.99 per month, following a one-off €49.00 installation & hardware charge.
The National Broadband Scheme sees an estimated €223 million investment by 3, of which a maximum of €79.8 million will be contributed by the Irish Government and EU, to provide broadband services to the designated electoral districts covered by the scheme.

 Arduino Patacchini, Eutelsat Multimedia Director, said: “The choice of Tooway^TM and our partner Satellite Broadband Ireland to deliver broadband services to the most rural homes and businesses in Ireland underlines the core role satellites are actively playing in building an inclusive digital environment across Europe.”

 Kevin Ryan, CEO of Satellite Broadband Ireland, said; “Satellite Broadband Ireland chose to use Eutelsat’s world-leading Tooway^TM satellite broadband technology as they are the largest broadband provider through satellite in Europe. Eutelsat’s experience in this sector was also a major factor in our selection.”

 Commenting on the announcement Damien Gallagher, NBS Project Director, 3 said: “This strategic agreement with Satellite Broadband Ireland is an important part of our National Broadband Scheme roll-out. Satellite broadband is the only viable option in a small percentage of buildings without which certain parts of rural Ireland would remain unconnected. 3 chose Satellite Broadband Ireland’s cutting-edge, innovative technology and their highly-skilled and experienced Irish workforce.”

Tooway^TM is the first two-way satellite broadband service in Europe offering speeds and costs similar to ADSL. The service is based on Eutelsat’s satellite coverage, the commercial and infrastructure operating experience of Eutelsat’s subsidiary Skylogic, and SurfBeam technology developed by ViaSat. This technology used by Tooway^TM comes to Europe after acquiring extensive experience on the North American market, where ViaSat already provides the equipment and network for over 400,000 homes with satellite broadband access fully independent from the terrestrial network. Today, Tooway^TM already serves customers via more than 40 distributors in 24 countries including Ireland, the UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Switzerland and Greece, with additional countries across Europe rolling-out over the coming months.

The Tooway^TM solution consists of a small satellite dish and a modem connected to the PC, giving customers immediate broadband access following a simple installation. In addition, the Tooway^TM service has the ability to deliver Voice over satellite telephony services and Direct-to-Home television using the Tooway^TM dish. Tooway^TM is delivered via a network of certified distributors whose contact details can be found at www.tooway.com.

In 2010, Eutelsat will expand the service with additional broadband access up to 10Mbps. These revolutionary broadband speeds will come from the launch of KA-SAT, the dedicated new satellite from Eutelsat specifically designed for broadband delivery in Europe. The satellite, which has the combined capacity of 40 traditional satellites, will enable Eutelsat to serve up to two million European homes at a similar speed, price and quality to terrestrial ADSL2 services.