MEASAT expands satellite fleet

Kuala Lumpur – MEASAT Global has entered into a contract with Astrium SAS for the procurement of the MEASAT-3b satellite. The agreement was executed by a MEASAT Global subsidiary company.

Based on the Eurostar E3000 platform, MEASAT-3b will provide an additional 48 Ku-Band transponders to the 91.5°E orbital location. Designed to operate in tandem with the MEASAT-3 and MEASAT-3a spacecraft, the new satellite will provide high powered Ku-Band capacity for Direct-To-Home (“DTH”) and Broadband VSAT services across Malaysia, Indonesia and India. The satellite has also been designed to support a fourth market. MEASAT-3b will have a contractual life of 15 years and is expected to be launched end 2013. The program is expected to cost around 1 billion Malaysian ringgit.