African pay TV provider MultiChoice has signed a 15-year service agreement with Intelsat on a new satellite to be added to the Intelsat network.
The new satellite, Intelsat 36, is expected to launch in late 2016 and will be co-located with Intelsat 20 at 68.5˚E, Intelsat’s direct-to-home (DTH) neighbourhood in Africa. MultiChoice has been the anchor customer at the 68.5˚E location since 1995.
“Our agreement with MultiChoice is a clear demonstration of our mission to partner closely with the leading media and enterprise customers in each region, to understand their network requirements and then create the infrastructure that will support their growth goals,” said Intelsat’s SVP of global sales, Kurt Riegelman (pictured). “Since 1965, Intelsat has committed to and invested in Africa’s communications and broadcast infrastructure. This has resulted in robust satellite coverage and Intelsat’s position as the leading provider of satellite services in the region.”
The Intelsat 36 design will feature Ku- and C-band services. The MultiChoice DTH services will use the Ku-band payload. The C-band payload will provide services to other customers using the Intelsat 68.5˚E video neighbourhood, which also distributes content to South Asian cable communities.
