Delhi, India, October 8, 2001 -- New Skies Satellites (AEX, NYSE: NSK), the global satellite communications company, has signed a contract with Data Access Ltd., a major Indian ISP and content portal, for New Skies’ IPsys® satellite-delivered access to the Internet backbone.

Operating under the NOW brand, Data Access is a joint venture between Pacific Century Cyber Works, Hong Kong and SPA Enterprises Limited, Delhi. Data Access is one of the leading ISPs in India and the only private Internet gateway operator with a multi-homing platform. Operating out of Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Bangalore, Data Access services more than 170,000 dial-up subscribers, more than 200 corporate lease line users and several national and regional ISPs.

The deal with New Skies adds an additional 48 Mbps to Data Access’ existing capacity and allows for additional routes for traffic management on the NOW-Gate multi-homing platform.

“We are thrilled to be working with one of the fastest growing ISP in the country,” said Srini Prasanna, New Skies’ vice president of sales for the Indian subcontinent, Middle East and Africa. “Data Access is a company truly on the cutting edge of the convergence revolution: they are not only a premier ISP, but also provide a rich selection of content. This is one of our largest bandwidth deals among all ISPs operating out of India.”

Mr. Sarvesh Goorah, chief technology officer of Data Access said: “We selected New Skies as our preferred partner for international connectivity after a thorough and detailed evaluation process over several months. We are extremely satisfied with the quality of the test circuits and New Skies’ ability to deliver the extremely stringent Quality of Service parameters we demanded.”

IPsys® creates a direct connection from the Internet backbone to an ISP’s local service point using a high-speed Digital Video Broadcast (DVB) or Single Channel per Carrier (SCPC)/frame relay connections. Data Access will operate both modes of transport for its IP data traffic, SCPC/frame relay and DVB.

Multi-homing satellite links enable ISPs to offer their customers one-hop connections from the global Internet backbone, thus reducing latency and IP packet loss. The IPsys® service makes use of direct peering with Tier 1 Internet backbone providers for more direct and thus more robust connections.

Currently, New Skies provides over 700 Mbps of Internet connectivity directly to ISP customers around the world through seven DVB platforms and SCPC carrier services covering India, South and East Africa, Central Africa, Asia and Latin America, making New Skies one of the largest Internet-over-satellite players in the industry.

For any further information, please contact:
Daniëlle Keukenmeester, Corporate Communications, New Skies Satellites
Tel: +31 70 306 4227, dkeukenmeester@newskies.com
Additional information is available at http://www.newskies.com.

ABOUT NEW SKIES SATELLITES (AEX, NYSE: NSK)
New Skies is a global satellite communications company with five satellites in geosynchronous orbit and ground facilities around the world. New Skies has three new spacecraft under construction, which are planned to serve the Atlantic Ocean Region, Asia and the Americas. Headquartered in The Hague, The Netherlands, and with offices in Johannesburg, London, New Delhi, São Paulo, Singapore, Sydney and Washington, D.C., New Skies is one of only three fixed satellite services companies with truly global satellite coverage. New Skies offers video, voice, data and Internet communications services to a range of telecommunications carriers, broadcasters, large corporations and Internet service providers around the world.

ABOUT DATA ACCESS
Promoted in 1999, Data Access is one of the first ISP licensees in India. With its venture partner Pacific Century Cyber Works, Data Access is the largest Internet Gateway operator in the private sector in India and one of the leading national ISPs.