NSS-7 satellite’s powerful Ku-band coverage of the region allows for
smaller, more cost-effective customer transmission equipment
ABUJA, Nigeria, August 28, 2003 – New Skies Satellites N.V. (AEX, NYSE: NSK), the global satellite communications company, today announced it has established an additional IP transmission platform dedicated to Internet services providers, telecommunications carriers, government agencies and businesses throughout West Africa.
The expansion is in response to strong demand in the region for the company’s IPsys-branded Internet backbone connectivity services and powerful Ku-band capacity on the NSS-7 satellite. IPsys directly connects customers’ remote Points of Presence (PoPs) to the global Internet backbone via a single satellite hop. IPsys connections thus bypass all shared ground networks and associated congestion points--as well as any terrestrial connectivity gaps--to seamlessly deliver rich Internet content to even the remotest locations at high speeds.
Ku-band transmissions enable IPsys customers to use lower-cost receive equipment and very small antennas. The NSS-7 satellite offers some of the most powerful Ku-band coverage of West Africa available today, making New Skies’ IPsys services the most cost-effective and highest quality solutions for connecting to the backbone.
Jean-Pierre Kabanda, New Skies’ director of sales for Africa, said: “Since its inception, New Skies has consistently demonstrated its commitment to Africa and to the region’s development, designing NSS-7 to be one of the most powerful satellites serving the continent.
“We’ve now developed a service based on the strengths of NSS-7’s Ku-band coverage of West Africa, which will offer customers reliable, ultra-high speed access to the backbone with the benefits of lower cost Ku-band equipment. So regardless of the limitations of existing infrastructure on the ground, New Skies can offer customers in Africa a communications network that rivals any in the world.”
New Skies currently operates 17 platforms for IPsys services over five satellites via five separate teleport facilities on three continents. In total, these platforms provide over 850 Mbps of contracted capacity to more than 95 customers in 50 countries. Including the new NSS-7 Ku-band service, New Skies operates four platforms that collectively transmit Internet traffic to approximately 100 customer PoPs throughout Africa.
The transmission hardware, associated equipment and connectivity for the new IPsys platform is provisioned at New Skies’ Washington D.C. mediaport, which seamlessly links into the North American Internet backbone. The facility will uplink bandwidth-intensive Internet traffic to the NSS-7 satellite for direct delivery to customer PoPs throughout West Africa.
IPsys benefits
IPsys services are offered over a truly global and highly reliable satellite network.
IPsys can bring carrier-level, high-throughput, Internet backbone connectivity to virtually any spot on the globe.
IPsys improves QoS by creating a direct channel from the Internet backbone to the ISP's PoP, or its customers' premises.
In contrast to fixed terrestrial connections, IPsys solutions are flexible and scalable, accommodating the Internet’s asymmetrical traffic patterns, and allowing incremental, on demand bandwidth growth to
Every part of the IPsys service uses fully redundant, industry leading components.
About New Skies Satellites
New Skies Satellites (AEX, NYSE: NSK) is one of only four fixed satellite communications companies with truly global satellite coverage, offering video, voice, data and Internet communications services to a range of telecommunications carriers, broadcasters, large corporations, Internet service providers and government organizations around the world. New Skies has five satellites in orbit, ground facilities around the world and one additional spacecraft under construction. The company also has secured certain rights to make use of additional orbital positions for future growth. New Skies is headquartered in The Hague, The Netherlands, and has offices in Beijing, Hong Kong, Johannesburg, New Delhi, São Paulo, Singapore, Sydney and Washington, D.C. IPsys® is a registered trade mark of New Skies Satellites N.V. Additional information is available at www.newskies.com.
