B-SAT selected Orbital in November 1998 to negotiate a contract for the satellite program. With the BSAT-2 contract now signed, Orbital will conclude agreements with vendors and begin to build the two spacecraft.

Orbital's winning satellite design is based on the company's STAR lightweight geosynchronous spacecraft platform, which provides very high reliability, performance and capacity in a relatively low-cost system.

"The BSAT-2 program is a strategically important contract for our growing geosynchronous satellite business," said Mr. Ricardo de Bastos, President of Orbital Communications International (OCI), a unit of Orbital's Space Systems Group. "We are completely committed to executing a successful program for B- SAT, and delivering the satellites on time and on budget."

An affiliate of Japan's NHK and other major private broadcast networks, B-SAT currently operates the BSAT-1a and BSAT-1b satellites, which provide direct broadcast analog TV to over 13 million customers throughout Japan.

When the Orbital-built BSAT-2a and -2b satellites are launched in 2000 and 2001, respectively, they will more than double the channel capacity of B-SAT's current analog network, offering the first satellite-based digital DBS services to Japanese subscribers.

The BSAT-2 satellites will operate at Ku- band frequencies at B-SAT's 110 degree East longitude orbital slot.