The 122nd meeting of the INTELSAT Board of Governors, meeting in Salvador, Brazil from March 19-24, has approved a new satellite deployment plan that it claims will better meet customer needs.
Specific details of the new deployment plan are as follows:
- the redeployment of INTELSAT 801 to 328.5 degrees E following its replacement at 64 degrees E by INTELSAT 804, which occurred on February 1, 1998;
- the redeployment of INTELSAT 506 to 330.5 degrees E from 328.6 degrees E following the deployment of INTELSAT 801 at 328.5 degrees E;
- the deployment of INTELSAT 511 to 330.5 degrees E for continuity of cable restoration services, and to replace INTELSAT 506, and subsequently the deorbiting of the INTELSAT 506;
- the launch and deployment of INTELSAT 805 to 304.5 degrees E;
- the de-orbit of INTELSAT 512 from 304.5 degrees E in the May/June 1998 timeframe due to propellant depletion.
With the redeployment of the INTELSAT 801 to the 328.5 degrees E location in April 1998, INTELSAT is better equipped to meet the voice/data service requirements of its customers in the Atlantic Ocean Region. In particular, the INTELSAT 801, which is a high-powered C and Ku-band satellite, offers capacity over the Americas with a hemi beam, three zone beams as well as a global beam, and also offers capacity over Western Europe and Africa, which will provide for increasing Internet requirements.
The INTELSAT 805, the second INTELSAT VIII-A, to be launched by INTELSAT in the May-June 1998 timeframe, will also be providing Internet services at the 304.5 degrees E orbital location.
INTELSAT owns and operates a global communications satellite system. With 1997 revenues of more than US$960 million, the INTELSAT system provides voice/data and video services to over 200 countries and territories via satellite.
