[Satellite TODAY Insider 10-27-10] Space Systems/Loral (SS/L), the designer and manufacturer of Intelsat’s IS-17 satellite, delivered the spacecraft to Arianespace’s European Spaceport in Kourou. The satellite, delivered nearly two months ahead of the contract date, is well timed, as a series of recent global analysis reports show that the services IS-17 will provide over Asia are in extremely high demand.
    IS-17 will launch in November aboard an Ariane 5 launch vehicle and be positioned at the valuable 66 degrees East slot, replacing the aging Intelsat 702. IS-17 satellite will be located next to the nine-year-old Intelsat 10 Asian video distribution slot located at 68.5 degrees East. IS-17’s C- and Ku-band capacity, combined with its multi-continental coverage, will work to offer programmers distribution in a region that extends across Asia and into Europe and Africa.
    The satellite’s pre-sold capacity customers include Korean communications service provider KT Corp. and Sony Pictures Television. KT Corp. will use the IS-17 capacity to deliver enhanced broadband VSAT services to its government and enterprise customers with remote operations in other parts of Asia, Africa and the Middle East.
    “We will benefit from IS-17’s broad, inter-regional coverage along with the high reliability and resilience for which the Intelsat network is well-known as we expand our business into developing regions. Our customers’ bandwidth requirements are projected to continue growing, and the high-powered bandwidth available on IS-17 allows us to support their needs as efficiently as possible,” KT Vice President of Network Groups Yeong-Mo Kwon said in a statement.
    Sony Pictures Television, which signed in August a multi-year contract with for IS-17 capacity, said it would use the satellite as an important broadcast programming anchor as it looks to enhance its presence in the Indian Ocean region. Intelsat advertised the satellite’s enhanced transponders as an attractive feature to programmers who were looking to expand distribution that extended into Europe and Africa across Asia.
    A potentially significant broadband data boost for Intelsat rides on the launch of the IS-17 satellite, which originally was contracted to Sea Launch before the launch provider filed for bankruptcy and had several of its contracts taken on by Arianespace. If reports by Analysys Mason, Ernst & Young and Informa Telecoms are correct, IS-17 could turn into a healthy revenue generator for the operator.

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