[Satellite TODAY 03-16-11] Xtar received a multi-million dollar contract to provide 79.5 MHz of X-band services to Intelsat General from the Xtar-Eur satellite over the Middle East and Europe, Xtar announced March 15.
    Intelsat General will use the Xtar capacity to support critical, time-sensitive data and communications between Afghanistan and Europe for Intelsat General’s military customers. The contract is a renewal of an agreement between the two companies that was signed in 2010. Xtar said the contract likely would be expanded in the next 12 months through two possible options for another 79.5 MHz.
    “This contract exemplifies the on-going requirements from U.S. and allied governments that commercially available X-band services can help fulfill, specifically for   high-capacity bandwidth to support communications for locations with intense demand,” Xtar President and COO Philip Harlow said in a statement. “As governments continue to look for ways to meet their communications needs, they will turn to commercial providers for satellite bandwidth and increasingly rely on X-band based on their interoperability with military satellite resources. The X-band frequency is designated uniquely for government use and is therefore readily available to government customers with no need to change user equipment from that normally used for WGS satellite operation.”