Hong Kong, December 4, 2000 --- New Skies Satellites, the global satellite communications company, plans to more than double its satellite capacity for broadband content delivery for the Asian market over the next two years, according to New Skies’ Chief Executive Officer Bob Ross.

Speaking at a press briefing at the ITU Asia Telecom 2000 conference and exhibition being held in Hong Kong this week, Mr. Ross outlined New Skies’ plans to launch Asia’s first intra-regional Ku/Ka-band satellite and to augment its other Asian satellites.

The new satellite, NSS-6, scheduled for launch at the end of 2002, features six broad Ku-band beams covering India, China, the Middle East (including Cyprus in the Eastern Mediterranean), South Africa, Australia, and South East Asia and North East Asia. Sixty high power 36 MHz-equivalent transponders can be assigned flexibly among the six beams in response to market demand.

Twelve super-high-gain uplink spot beams in the Ka-band (ten of which can be used at any one time) will facilitate high data-rate transmissions from antennas as small as 90 cm directly from remote premises. These Ka-band uplink beams are then “cross-strapped” to the Ku-band downlink beams. This feature will permit ISPs and enterprise customers to avoid congested terrestrial communication systems and obtain fully-interactive access to high-speed Internet and other multimedia communications within or across service regions throughout Asia.

After months of discussions with current and potential user groups throughout Asia, the locations of the 12 Ka-band beams, each approximately 650 kilometers in diameter, have been fixed: Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing/Tianjin, Wuhan, Taiwan, Seoul, Tokyo/Osaka, Mumbai, Bangalore/Chennai, Delhi, Sydney and Melbourne.

New Skies plans to make further investments in Asia by re-deploying its powerful NSS-803 satellite to 183 E. longitude to replace NSS-513 in mid 2002. NSS-513
is one of the few satellites that can connect North America with all major destinations in the Asia-Pacific in a single hop.

Another key element of New Skies’ commitment to Asia is the recent relocation of eight Ku-band transponders on NSS-703 to increase the Europe-to-India connectivities that can be used for both IP and television traffic.

New Skies also has augmented its mediaport resources with uplink facilities, including a fiber connection to the U.S. Internet backbone, on the West coast of the U.S. This will make it possible for New Skies to offer end-to-end transpacific connectivity on its NSS-513 satellite. Additionally, in March this year, New Skies acquired six mediaports throughout Australia for the development of services throughout Asia.

To support these investments in Asia, New Skies opened an office in New Delhi earlier this year which joins Singapore and Sydney as regional centers for New Skies activities.

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 two new satellites under construction. Headquartered in The Hague, The Netherlands, New Skies is one of only four fixed satellite services companies with truly global satellite coverage. It offers video, voice, data and Internet communications links.

New Skies began operations as a commercial spin-off from INTELSAT, the US-based international satellite communications organization in November 1998 and completed its privatization with an initial public offering in October 2000. New Skies generated revenues of $137m in 1999, $82m in the first half of the current year and has a committed backlog of approximately $750m. New Skies is listed on both the Euronext Amsterdam exchange and the NYSE.

For more information, please contact:
Elizabeth Hess
VP, Corporate Communications, New Skies Satellites
+31 70 306 4133 (mobile: +31 6 2906 2492)
ehess@newskies.com

Eui Koh
VP Asia Pacific Sales, New Skies Satellites
+65 238 0400 (mobile: +65 96 68 89 90)
ekoh@newskies.com

Srini Prasanna
VP Sales for India, the Middle East and Africa
+44 20 7389 8300 (+44 77 47 69 72 91)
sprasanna@newskies.com