SES-6 Satellite Fully Operational

The SES-6 satellite has successfully completed its extensive in-orbit testing and is now fully operational and in commercial service at the orbital position of 40.5 degrees West. The 53rd SES satellite was successfully launched on board an ILS Proton booster from Baikonur, Kazakhstan, on June 4, 2013.

SES-6 was built by EADS Astrium in Toulouse, France, based on the highly reliable Eurostar E3000 platform. The satellite is equipped with 43 C-band and 48 Ku-band transponders. SES-6 had a launch mass of 6,100 kg, features a wingspan of 40m with its solar arrays deployed in orbit, and is designed for 13 kW of spacecraft power at the end of its 15-year design lifetime. The satellite has comprehensive coverage of North America, Latin America, Europe and the Atlantic Ocean.

SES-6 replaces SES' NSS-806 satellite at the prime orbital position of 40.5 degrees West, providing continuity of service and expansion capacity in the C-band for video neighbourhoods in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The largest Ku-band customer on SES-6 is Brazilian telecommunication group Oi. As a new anchor customer, Oi signed a significant long-term capacity agreement to provide Direct-to-Home (DTH) services in Brazil.

East Africa's Zuku TV to Fully Migrate to SES 5

The East African pay-TV broadcaster Zuku TV will complete its migration on the SES fleet in the coming days and has committed to growth capacity on the new satellite.

Zuku TV, part of Wananchi Group Holdings, is East Africa's leading home entertainment operator, with a substantial and growing customer base in East Africa, principally Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.

The migration of Zuku TV from the SES satellite NSS-12 to the newer SES-5 began in February 2013. SES-5 was launched last year and is positioned at 5 degrees East, one of the company's flagship orbital slots, which supports customers across the continent to grow Africa's Direct-to-Home and broadcast services. Wananchi Group has contracted seven transponders on SES-5; four have migrated to SES-5 whilst three transponders are additional growth capacity.

The demand of Wananchi clearly shows the attractiveness of SES-5 for African broadcasters, says Ferdinand Kayser, Chief Commercial Officer of SES. With customers like Wananchi, we are able to create a high quality and high value DTH neighborhood on SES-5, applying our core competence in the Direct-to-Home (DTH) business to an important growth region.

We are extremely satisfied with the performance of SES-5, says Richard Bell, CEO, Wananchi Group. We depend on satellite capacity and services to ensure excellent service and picture quality for our viewers and to grow our business in the market.

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