Worldwide partner for connectivity / Initiative aims at improving education infrastructure in developing countries

   SES GLOBAL (Euronext Paris and Luxembourg Stock Exchange: SESG) announces that its operating companies SES ASTRA and SES AMERICOM will support the worldwide non-profit initiative “One Laptop per Child” (OLPC). The initiative aims at improving the communication and education infrastructure in developing countries by launching a low cost, web-connected laptop. It is supported by leading international players in the hard- and software industry. SES ASTRA and SES AMERICOM will serve as worldwide partners to provide satellite connectivity and smart ground solutions for broadcasting, data and internet connections. SES AMERICOM CEO Edward D. Horowitz will represent SES on the initiative’s Board.

   “One Laptop per Child” was launched at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in January and is chaired by the former head of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Boston, Nicholas Negroponte.

   As new corporate partners of the project, SES ASTRA and SES AMERICOM will contribute important know-how for the conceptual development, give financial support of US$ 2 million and provide space capacity on SES’ global satellite fleet to countries and organizations. The conceptual contribution includes the development of a “one dish per village” model, whereby the low-cost laptops with a wireless connection receive data from local hubs connected via satellite. The price of such laptops is expected to be around USD 100.

   The involvement with the “One Laptop per Child” initiative reinforces SES`s engagement in connectivity projects, like for example the NEPAD's e-Schools project (www.nepad.org), a ten-year initiative started in 2003 to connect 600,000 schools in Africa.

   Comments Edward D. Horowitz, President and CEO of SES AMERICOM: "Together with our world class partners in the OLPC initiative and the commitment of the participating countries, we have the unique opportunity to change the way educational resources are delivered to schools and students in every corner of the planet by taking advantage of satellite's inherent ability to connect without geographical boundaries. We look forward to supporting this important global initiative."

About SES GLOBAL     www.ses-global.com 

SES GLOBAL (Euronext Paris, Luxembourg Stock Exchange: SESG) wholly owns three market-leading satellite operators, SES ASTRA in Europe, SES AMERICOM in the US and New Skies Satellites in regions other than North America and Europe. The Company also holds strategic participations in AsiaSat in Asia, Star One in Latin America, SES Sirius in Europe, Ciel in Canada and Quetzsat in Mexico. Americom Government Services provides network solutions and bandwidth to the US government and its contractors. SES GLOBAL provides outstanding satellite communications solutions via a fleet of 44 satellites across the globe.

About OLPC       www.laptop.org

One Laptop per Child (OLPC) is a Delaware-based, non-profit organization created by faculty members from the MIT Media Lab to design, manufacture, and distribute laptops that are sufficiently inexpensive to provide every child in the world access to knowledge and modern forms of education. The laptops will be sold to governments and issued to children by schools on a basis of one laptop per child. These machines will be rugged, Linux-based, and so energy efficient that hand-cranking alone can generate sufficient power for operation. Mesh networking will give many machines Internet access from one connection. The pricing goal is to start near $100 and then steadily decrease.

OLPC is based on "constructionist" theories of learning pioneered by Seymour Papert and later Alan Kay, as well as the principles expressed in Nicholas Negroponte's book, Being Digital. The corporate members are Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Brightstar, Google, Marvell, News Corporation, Nortel, Red Hat, Quanta and SES.

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