Sydney, Australia, August 1, 2001 -- New Skies Networks Pty Ltd., one of Australia’s leading satellite system integrators and network service providers, consolidated its position in the Australian telecommunications market last week when the Australian Communications Authority granted it a licence to operate as a national telecommunications carrier.

Announcing the licence, New Skies Networks (NSN) outlined aggressive plans to use its new status to further the provision of services to government users, an area in which it is already strong, and also to expand its enterprise customer base. Special focus will be concentrated on providing innovative, low-cost two-way satellite services to support Internet delivery and other IP-based applications.

NSN’s plans over the next two years also call for substantial investment in new, state-of-the-art satellite capacity, as well as local technical and service research projects. Sydney-based CEO Maureen Murphy said NSN, in conjunction with parent New Skies Satellites, aimed to become the pre-eminent provider of satellite-based communications and convergent media services in the Australasian and Southeast Asian markets.

"We already have built international connections and have benefited from the backing of our parent company, global operator New Skies Satellites,” said Murphy. “We are now poised to become a major force in the local and regional satellite services markets. Our carrier licence gives us the capability to compete aggressively for domestic, as well as international, business."

NSN’s major service offerings are:

· the provision of satellite-delivered access to the Internet backbone;
· point-to-multipoint delivery of IP-based content for commercial and government clients;
· managed voice/data domestic and international networks including SCADA (Supervisory, Control and Data Acquisition) operations for several Australian oil pipelines; and
· teleport services for third party organizations, including up/downlinking, service hosting and telemetry, tracking and control activities.

NSN's services are currently provided in both C- and Ku-bands. An aggressive expansion program by the New Skies parent company is expected to result in additional capacity becoming available to serve the region within the next 18 months.

The NSS-803 satellite is expected to be drifted in mid-2002 from the Atlantic Ocean where it is now serving Europe, Africa and the Americas to Asia Pacific where it will replace NSS-513 and provide a quantum boost in power and capacity.

Additionally, at the end of 2002 New Skies Satellites plans to launch a new satellite, NSS-6, to 95 degrees East for full coverage of Australia and Asia, with reach from the Middle East and South Africa in the west to Japan and Korea in the east.

NSS-6, an all Ku/Ka band satellite featuring full beam interconnectivity, has been designed specifically to offer broadband interactive multimedia communications. Its special capabilities will enable NSN customers to operate fully-interactive, high-speed networks of small terminals, capable of carrying Internet and other bandwidth intensive services. “NSS-6 is set to change the landscape of satellite capacity and capability within the region,” said Murphy.

"Our newly-granted carrier status, together with the arrival in the region of highly capable satellites, means that we are well-placed to offer extremely attractive alternatives for traditional satellite users such as broadcasters as well as the new, broadband media players," Murphy said.

About New Skies Networks: Based in Sydney, NSN provides a suite of satellite-based voice, data and Internet-related services to Government and corporate enterprise. In addition, NSN possesses widely distributed earth station facilities throughout Australia in Adelaide, Brisbane, Darwin, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney. NSN is a wholly-owned subsidiary of New Skies Satellites N.V.

About New Skies: New Skies Satellites N.V. is a global satellite communications company with five satellites in geosynchronous orbit, ground facilities around the world, and three new spacecraft under construction. Headquartered in The Hague, The Netherlands, 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.

For more information, please contact:

Alan Marsden
National Marketing Manager, New Skies Networks Pty Ltd
+61 (0)2 9009 8833; fax, +61 (0)2 9009 8899
amarsden@newskies.com
or
Elizabeth Hess
VP, Corporate Communications, New Skies Satellites
+31 70 306 4133; mobile: +31 (0)6 2906 2492
ehess@newskies.com