PanAmSat Launches New Era in Satellite Communications

PanAmSat Corporation today announced that the
PAS-1R satellite, the company’s eighth Atlantic Ocean Region
spacecraft, has successfully lifted off at 8:07 p.m. Eastern time
(1:07 a.m. GMT) from the Guiana Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana
aboard an Ariane 5 rocket.

PAS-1R will replace the PAS-1 Atlantic Ocean Region satellite,
the first international communications satellite ever launched by a
commercial company. With PAS-1’s launch in June 1988, PanAmSat broke a
global satellite monopoly and paved the way for today’s
multibillion-dollar international satellite communications industry.
PanAmSat is now an industry leader with hundreds of marquee customers
and 22 spacecraft, the world’s largest commercial geostationary
satellite network.

PAS-1R, which is located at 45 degrees west longitude, is the
largest and most powerful commercial geostationary satellite ever
launched. The spacecraft will employ its 72 transponders to offer
expanded and enhanced video and data broadcasting as well as broadband
Internet services throughout the Americas, the Caribbean, Europe and
Africa.

PAS-1R, a Boeing 702 spacecraft built by Boeing Satellite Systems
Inc., employs a communications payload consisting of 36 C-band and 36
Ku-band transponders, each supplying 36 MHz of bandwidth. The PAS-1R
deployment was PanAmSat’s 17th Ariane launch and the company’s first
voyage aboard the Ariane 5 rocket.

R. Douglas Kahn, PanAmSat’s president and chief executive
officer, said: “The pioneering launch of PAS-1 gave rise to a thriving
new commercial international satellite services industry, with current
annual revenues of nearly 10 billion dollars and significant projected
growth in the coming years. As PAS-1R orbits earth, we are poised to
lead that growth as we continue to introduce enhanced technology to
meet market demand for exciting new digital video, data and broadband
Internet services.

“From 45 degrees west longitude, PAS-1R will be instrumental in
the support of current and future PanAmSat Internet initiatives in
Europe, Africa and Latin America such as SPOTbytes DVB and NET-36. The
spacecraft’s extensive coverage, high-power and advanced Ku-band
payload make it an ideal platform for the delivery of these new
broadband services. PAS-1R will also offer our C-band customers
additional capacity, flexibility and service options for the delivery
of premium video distribution services throughout the Atlantic Ocean
Region.”

PAS-1R will provide comprehensive coverage of Latin America, with
high-powered beams focused on key areas throughout the continent. This
enables PanAmSat to offer its new SPOTbytes DVB service to customers
throughout the entire region. SPOTbytes DVB offers Latin American
Internet service providers and telecommunications companies flexible,
cost-efficient and high-speed access to the U.S. Internet backbone
over a versatile DVB platform.

The satellite also will play a key role in the deployment of
PanAmSat’s NET-36 IP Broadcast Network in Europe and Latin America.
NET-36 delivers a content owner’s broadband streaming media
entertainment directly to edge servers located at broadband last-mile
provider locations, bypassing 95 percent of terrestrial Internet
congestion. The network will employ the PAS-1R satellite to enable a
content owner to deliver its Internet entertainment to
broadband-enabled users throughout Europe and Latin America with
unmatched quality and fidelity.

Once operational, PAS-1R will have a diverse customer lineup in
Latin America, showcasing its ability to deliver a broad range of
services throughout the region for video, direct-to-home,
telecommunications and Internet customers. Among the customer lineup
are ImpSat, Cisneros Television Group, CTC Mundo, Telefonica Data
Colombia, Citibank, Reuters, Zona Franca Montevideo, Latinet, Suratel,
Vitacom and DirecTV Latin America.

PAS-1R highlights:

• More than twice the capacity of the original PAS-1 satellite,
  offering a total of more than 2,500 MHz of capacity.

• PanAmSat’s eighth Atlantic Ocean Region satellite and ninth
  serving Latin America, representing an investment of more than $2
  billion in advanced satellite services for the region.

–
PanAmSat’s fourth satellite offering coverage of Africa.

–
PanAmSat’s seventh satellite serving Europe.

• New C-band capacity for Europe and Africa, offering C-band
  connectivity between Western Europe, Eastern Europe and Africa,
  in addition to the Americas.

• More than three times as much power per C-band transponder than
  on PAS-1

• Three times the Ku-band capacity of PAS-1, offering Ku-band
  connectivity between Europe and Africa as well as Latin America
  for the delivery of high-speed data and broadband Internet
  services.

• More than seven times as much power per Ku-band transponder than
  on PAS-1

• The fifth satellite in PanAmSat’s seven-satellite launch campaign
  that will expand the company’s global network to 24 spacecraft by
  mid-2001.

–
PanAmSat’s second Boeing 702 model spacecraft.