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Intelsat acquired the ProtoStar 1 satellite, which was renamed Intelsat 25 (IS-25), late last year and repositioned it to 328.5 degrees East. IS-25 commenced service last week and offers C- and Ku-band coverage of a substantial portion of Africa. IS-25 provides capacity for high growth applications that include cellular backhaul for expansion services to remote locations; IP Trunking for robust Internet connectivity; and video services for programming.
The Intelsat New Dawn satellite, currently scheduled to be launched this year, is expected to join IS-25 and will bring the number of satellites within Intelsat’s fleet that serve Africa to 25. Intelsat’s new terrestrial architecture, IntelsatONE (read news story elsewhere in SatNews), which consists of an IP/MPLS-based network, teleports and points of presence, provides customers a single source for converged data, voice and video solutions. MTN Business, a provider of mobile and Internet-based communications services, will use IntelsatONE through its multi-year contract that includes teleport services and hosting of its DVB-S2 platform in addition to capacity on the Intelsat 905 satellite, located at 335.5 degrees East. With this service, MTN Business will offer corporate network connectivity to its enterprise customers needing to connect offices across Sub-Saharan Africa.
Angola-based MSTelcom signed a multi-year, multi-transponder contract on the Intelsat 1R satellite, located at 310 degrees East, for transmissions for its customers serving the oil and gas, banking and mining industries. Gateway Communications, a provider of pan-African network services, expanded its pre-launch commitment, signing another multi-transponder contract for Ku-band capacity on the Intelsat New Dawn satellite for corporate networking services offered by its parent, South Africa’s Vodacom.
Intelsat will provide more than 700 MHz of satellite capacity on as many as seven satellites within its global fleet for transmission services of the 2010 soccer championship. Rights-holding and non-rights-holding broadcasters will use Intelsat capacity to distribute the matches from South Africa to a global audience. In addition, Intelsat will combine this space segment with the IntelsatONE network of teleports, fiber and points of presence, offering end-to-end managed solutions. Services will include:
- Tape play-out, live shot and transmission services from event locations in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban
- Live shot locations for non-rights holders at Ellis Park and Soccer City
- Broadcast and location consultation services
- In-country satellite newsgathering services
- Managed platforms for encoding, multiplexing and compression equipment in HD + SD
