Ses New Skies announced today (March 3) at Satellite Mena that Detecon Al Saudia (Detasad) has contracted 36 MHz of capacity on the upcoming NSS-12 satellite.

NSS-12 is scheduled for operational service in the second half of 2009 and will replace the existing NSS-703 satellite at the orbital location of 57 degrees East.

Detasad is a German-Saudi joint venture that has been successfully providing telecommunication and IT services, including consultancy, engineering, installation, operation and maintenance, in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East region for more than 27 years.

“We chose NSS-12 because of the spacecraft’s excellent coverage of the whole Middle East as well as important parts of Europe,” explained Dr Harald W Stange, director BU ICT Services, Detasad.

“It will ideally support our strategy to provide satellite services to our customers in the Middle East with optimized power/bandwidth solutions. It also will allow us to contribute to growing commercial interrelations in the region by providing reliable satellite links between the Middle East and Europe.”

“The NSS-12 satellite capacity is another milestone for Detasad to support its growing market share in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as well as in the international connectivity business,” he added.

Nigel Gibson, regional vice president - Europe and Middle East at Ses New Skies, stated: “NSS-12 is designed to be one of the most powerful and versatile satellites in the Ses fleet, and is a reflection of Ses’ strategy to significantly invest in the Middle East market.

“With this new multi-year agreement, we are proud to continue our longstanding business partnership with Detasad, where we believe that our contribution fits perfectly with their proposition of delivering integrated solutions to the region.” – TradeArabia News Service