Page 80 - SAMENA Trends - November-December 2019

SATELLITE UPDATES SAMENA TRENDS

Kacific1 Satellite Launch to Bring Affordable Internet to Remote Parts of

Asia and Pacific

Kacific Broadband Satellites International Ltd has launched southeast Asia, east Asia and the Pacific at ADB’s Private Sector
the Kacific1 satellite to expand high-speed broadband internet Operations Department. “Information and communications
access across Asia and the Pacific. The Asian Development Bank connectivity are powerful tools in fighting poverty through better
(ADB) provided 50 million dollars in financing to Kacific for the education, health care, and disaster resilience. ADB sees these
satellite to deliver internet that will enable better education and innovative technologies as vital channels bringing inclusive
health services, improve access to information, and drive more development to the most remote corners of our region,” he said.
trade and connectivity between countries. Kacific1, launched Access to broadband internet can accelerate progress towards
by SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral will orbit realizing the Sustainable Development Goals. It also helps ADB
in the same location above Asia and the Pacific region during to meet operational priorities such as human development and
its estimated 15-year service life. “The satellite will be able to social inclusion, improved education, better health access, gender
deliver the most powerful signal ever achieved by a commercial equality and food security. This project can assist in climate
satellite in the region, providing affordable broadband access to adaptation and disaster resilience as well as climate-smart
people in remote regions, many of whom have never had internet agricultural practices, ADB said.
connectivity before,” ADB said in a statement. Remote and rural
communities are typically beyond the reach of traditional fiber
optics as terrestrial distribution and infrastructure take time to
build and is expensive. Kacific1 will cover these communities in
Pacific island nations and in archipelagic countries like Indonesia
and the Philippines. The satellite will also have beams over south
Asia, New Zealand, and Papua New Guinea. “Satellite internet
services, like those that will be provided by Kacific1, are very
effective in reaching the last mile of internet access, connecting
remote areas that would otherwise remain isolated and lacking
crucial services that can improve livelihoods and incomes,” said
Jackie B Surtani, Infrastructure Finance Division Director for

Arianespace to Launch MEASAT-3d Satellite

Arianespace and Measat, a Malaysian requirements of 4G and 5G mobile MEASAT-3d satellite will carry multiple
satellite operator, signed a launch services networks in Malaysia while continuing payload types: C- and Ku-band payloads
contract for MEASAT-3d, a new multi- to provide redundancy and additional for direct-to-home television broadcasting
mission telecommunications satellite. distribution capacity for video in HD, 4K, and other telecom services, as well as
The satellite launched into geostationary and ultimately 8K in the Asia-Pacific a high-throughput Ka-band payload for
transfer orbit by an Ariane 5 heavy-lift region. When positioned at 91.5 degrees internet connectivity. MEASAT-3d also will
launch vehicle from the Guiana Space East, MEASAT-3d will be co-located with carry an L-band navigation payload for
Center, Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, MEASAT-3a and MEASAT-3b satellites to Korean satellite operator Kt sat as part of
French Guiana (South America) in 2021. replace and enhance capacity in Malaysia, the Korea Augmentation Satellite System.
MEASAT-3d aims to serve the growth Asia, Middle East and Africa. The new Commenting on this latest contract,
Arianespace Chief Executive Officer
Stéphane Israël said: “We are honored that
MEASAT entrusted the launch of MEASAT-
3d to Arianespace, renewing a long
standing partnership with this Malaysian
operator that dates back to 1996. With one
new commercial success for Ariane 5, the
Ariane family reasserts itself as the best-
suited solution to reach the geostationary
orbit, just a few weeks before the 40 years
of Ariane and before the advent of Ariane
6 in 2020”.

80 NOVEMBER 2019