SES-6 SATELLITE Completes Testing and Goes Operational

SES (News - Alert) is expanding rigorously with the launch of SES-6 and the four other satellites of O3b Networks' constellation. The company has recently announced that the new SES-6 is fully operational and in commercial service at the orbital position of 40.5 degrees west.

SES-6 was launched on a Proton rocket from the Baikonur cosmodrome, on June 4th and has recently completed its extensive in-orbit testing.

EADS (News - Alert) Astrium in Toulouse, France, was in charge of building the SES-6 on the highly dependable Eurostar E3000 platform. The satellite is furnished with 43 C-band and 48 Ku-band transponders and features a wingspan of 40m with its solar arrays deployed in orbit.

This new satellite had a launch mass of 6,100 kg and is specifically designed for 13 kW of spacecraft power at the end of its 15-year design lifetime. The satellite has complete coverage of North America, Latin America, Europe and the Atlantic Ocean.

Replacing the NSS-806 spacecraft at 40.5 degrees W and doubling the available capacity at that orbital position with an incremental 49 transponders, SES-6 is home to Brazilian DTH Pay-TV provider Oi's new, extended DTH package.

It is also said that the new SES-6 satellite, with its high pre-fill rate, is a key driver of SES' growth.

"SES is growing in all markets. Although the German analog switch-off in April 2012 limits the comparison with the prior year period, the underlying growth has accelerated,” said Romain Bausch, president and CEO of SES.

Bausch added, “SES-6 is an important satellite supporting our future growth. An impressive list of recently signed agreements with DTH operators demonstrates the success of our growth strategy in emerging markets, with Oi in Brazil, Cignal Digital TV in the Philippines, Sky Vision in Indonesia, as well as Platco Digital and Wananchi in Africa, all developing their businesses on SES satellites. Revenue from these regions increased by 9.3 percent compared to H1 2012.”

SES provides satellite communications services to broadcasters, content and Internet service providers, mobile and fixed network operators and business and governmental organizations worldwide.

The company has three more satellite launches scheduled for 2013, each of which contributes new capacity and will accelerate revenue growth in the second half of the year in the emerging markets where they are successfully commercializing this capacity.