INTELSAT Board Voices Concern Regarding Pending U.S. Legislation; Buys Another Satellite; and Continues Progress on Privatization

The INTELSAT Board, meeting this week,
responded to pending U.S. legislation by taking steps to convene an emergency
meeting of the 143 INTELSAT member nations, and the convening of an
arbitration tribunal, for the purpose of examining the legislation and
determining whether such legislation violates U.S. obligations vis-a-vis the
INTELSAT Agreements. If a violation is found to exist, and if no action is
taken by the U.S. Government to remedy the violation, the United States may
face expulsion from INTELSAT. Furthermore, the Board instructed INTELSAT
Management to step up research of alternative jurisdictions outside of the
United States for the privatized company.

INTELSAT Director General and CEO, Conny Kullman, who was directed by the
Board to inform all of INTELSAT’s member governments of U.S. legislative
developments, commented, “The pending legislation works completely against the
privatization of INTELSAT. The U.S. Administration — the State and Commerce
Departments — as well as the Federal Communications Commission — have
expressed strong reservations about the Bill. We hope these concerns, which
INTELSAT shares, can be resolved so that the privatized INTELSAT will, indeed,
be a U.S. company.”

In order to help ensure privatized INTELSAT’s commercial success, the
Board bought an additional NI-Alpha spacecraft from Matra Marconi Space. The
original contract awarded to Matra Marconi Space in January, contained an
option for the purchase of a second spacecraft. This spacecraft, NI-Alpha-2,
will be assigned to the 359 degrees East location serving the Americas,
Europe, and Africa, and brings INTELSAT’s total spacecraft on order to nine.

The Board also made further progress towards INTELSAT’s impending
privatization. It progressed key issues on distribution, capacity reservation
policy, and guaranteed connectivity.

INTELSAT owns and operates a global communications satellite system
providing capacity for voice, video, corporate/private networks and Internet
to more than 700 customers in over 200 countries and territories. For more
information, visit the INTELSAT web site at www.intelsat.int.