MEASAT orders latest satellite from Astrium
MEASAT Global Berhad (“MEASAT”) has selected Astrium to build MEASAT-3b, a new satellite to augment its core Ku-band business in Malaysia, India and Indonesia.
Planned to be launched in 2013 and positioned at 91.5*E, co-located with MEASAT-3 and MEASAT-3a, the powerful MEASAT-3b satellite will more than double the current Ku-band capacity operated by MEASAT. The agreement was executed by a MEASAT subsidiary.
MEASAT-3b will be based on Astrium’s highly reliable Eurostar E3000 platform and will be able to provide 48 Ku-band transponders simultaneously, providing MEASAT with large capacity and flexibility over three distinct geographical locations – Malaysia, Indonesia and India. The satellite has also been designed to support a fourth market.
MEASAT-3b is designed to have a launch mass of 5.8 tonnes, an electrical power of 16 kW, and is planned for more than 15 years of operation.
Datuk Umar bin Haji Abu, Chairman, MEASAT said, “By more than doubling our Ku-Band capacity at 91.5*E, MEASAT-3b will allow the Group to continue to meet the increasing requirements of our DTH and telecommunication customers. Co-located with two existing satellites, MEASAT-3b will also add in-additional orbit redundancy to our fleet. Operating three co-located satellites, MEASAT will have created the most robust network in the region able to provide the highest levels of service assurance to our customers both in Malaysia and internationally.”
Evert Dudok, CEO of Astrium Satellites, said, “We are proud that MEASAT has chosen Astrium to build their new telecommunication satellite. Astrium is committed to enable our new customer MEASAT to achieve its vision to become the leading satellite operator in emerging markets. We are guaranteeing our customers a minimum of 15 years of continuous operations. The high level in-orbit reliability of the Astrium Eurostar satellites delivered is proven by nearly 400 years of successful, accumulated in-orbit lifetime.”
About MEASAT Global
MEASAT is a premium supplier of satellite communication services to Asia’s leading broadcasters, DTH platforms and telecom operators. With a fleet of state-of-the-art satellites, MEASAT is able to provide satellite capacity to over 145 countries representing 80% of the world’s population across Asia Pacific, Middle East, Africa, Europe and Australia. MEASAT provides a complete range of broadcast and telecommunications services including high definition and standard definition video playout, broadband services, video turnaround, co-location, uplinking and IP termination.
For more information, please visit www.measat.com.
About Astrium
Astrium is the number one company in Europe for space technologies and a wholly owned subsidiary of EADS, dedicated to providing civil and defence space systems and services.
In 2010, Astrium had a turnover of O5 billion and more than 15,000 employees in France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Spain and the Netherlands. Its three main areas of activity are Astrium Space Transportation for launchers and orbital infrastructure, Astrium Satellites for spacecraft and ground segment, and Astrium Services for comprehensive end-to-end solutions covering secure and commercial satcoms and networks, high security satellite communications equipment, bespoke geo-information and navigation services worldwide.
EADS is a global leader in aerospace, defence and related services. In 2010, the Group – comprising Airbus, Astrium, Cassidian and Eurocopter – generated revenues of O45.8 billion and employed a workforce of nearly 122,000.
Press contacts:
Daniel Mosely (Astrium UK)
Tel.: +44 (0)1438 778180
Gregory Gavroy (Astrium FR)
Tel.: +33 (0)1 77 75 80 32
Ralph Heinrich (Astrium GER)
Tel.: +49 (0)89 607 33971
Francisco Lechon (Astrium SP)
Tel.: +34 91 586 37 41
