SES ASTRA contracts WORLDSAT capacity for geographic expansion into Africa

SES ASTRA to market 24 pan-African transponders on WORLDSAT 2 at 37,5° West as ASTRA 4A

SES ASTRA and WORLDSAT, two SES GLOBAL companies (Euronext Paris, Luxembourg and Frankfurt Stock Exchanges: SESG) announce the conclusion of an agreement that positions SES ASTRA to extend the provision of state-of-the-art satellite services to the entire African continent.

The agreement covers 24 C-band transponders on the WORLDSAT 2 (WS-2) satellite for the entire expected life span of the spacecraft. WS-2 is currently under construction with Alcatel Space of France and scheduled for launch onboard a Russian Proton booster under the auspices of ILS (International Launch Services) in fourth quarter of 2004.

The WS-2 African capacity will be marketed under the ASTRA brand name. Regional marketing support will be provided by the SES representation office based in Johannesburg, South Africa. SES ASTRA initiated service provision to Africa earlier this year with the steerable beam onboard ASTRA 2B at 28.2° East, which has been focused on Western Africa.

Ferdinand Kayser, President and CEO of SES ASTRA, states: "ASTRA will be marketing this capacity as ASTRA 4A. SES brings to Africa one of the most renowned and trusted brand names in satellite service provision. With the ASTRA 2B capacity we are already providing active service to our customer Accelon, notably in Nigeria, and, as of this month, also in Ghana. As part of our strategy of offering compelling satellite services to the entire African continent, we have secured state-of-the-art pan-African C-band satellite capacity from our sister company WORLDSAT. This agreement fits perfectly into SES GLOBAL's strategy of maximizing synergies between operating companies to the best interest of our customers. ASTRA 2B at 28.2° East and ASTRA 4A at 37.5° West are SES' beachheads into the African market and its vast potential for readily available, ubiquitous satellite-based communications solutions."

Andreas Georghiou, President and CEO of WORLDSAT, concurred: "With high-powered C-band capacity alongside the Ku bandwidth of ASTRA 2B, ASTRA is very well positioned to bring competitive services to the African region that is using wireless infrastructure to leapfrog into the 21st century of telecommunications. This agreement underscores the WORLDSAT strategy to offer efficient international resources to operators, in this case our sibling ASTRA, who are expanding into neighboring regions."

Scheduled to replace Satcom C1 by the end of 2004, the WS-2 advanced high-powered C-band satellite will serve broadcasters, cable programmers, Internet service providers, government agencies, educational institutions, carriers and private networks throughout the Atlantic Region, including North America, the Caribbean, South America, Europe and Africa.

High-powered and state-of-the-art, WORLDSAT-2 will offer unprecedented levels of performance. Its advanced design and high power levels will provide service with higher data throughput to smaller antennas. Two zone beams, one each for North and South America, will complement one hemi beam, covering Europe and Africa. The beams may be interconnected through on-board switching on an individual transponder basis.

The WS-2 spacecraft carries 72 C-band transponders and features a design life of 15 years.

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