Intelsat SA, operator of the world’s first globalised network, has announced that Intelsat 33e, the second of the Intelsat EpicNG series of high throughput satellites (HTS), will be launched on August 24.

The satellite has arrived at the Guiana Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana, where it will undergo final preparations before its launch on an Ariane 5 rocket, the company said.  

Manufactured by Boeing and equipped with the most advanced digital payload on a commercial spacecraft, Intelsat 33e will extend Intelsat’s high throughput capacity in both C- and Ku-band from the Americas to include Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific, the Mediterranean and Indian Ocean regions.  

Intelsat EpicNG features an exceptionally flexible HTS payload design that is backward compatible with already deployed user networks globally.  The higher performance, better economics and simplified access of the Intelsat EpicNG design are built to address an expected $3.2 billion incremental revenue opportunity related to new demand for satellite-based infrastructure in the enterprise, wireless infrastructure, aeronautical and maritime mobility, government and Internet of Things sectors by the year 2021, the company said.

The amount of global data traffic is expected to surge at a compound annual growth rate of 53 percent from 2015 through year-end 2020.  With increasing broadband requirements and a growing number of smartphone users, the flexible and open architecture of Intelsat 29e, Intelsat 33e and future Intelsat EpicNG satellites will enable fixed and mobile network operators to cost-effectively extend their networks and meet the surges in broadband demand across the continents, it added.  

Select customers have already committed to take advantage of Intelsat 33e, some of which include Pakistani Internet service provider SuperNet Limited, African telecommunications providers such as Telkom South Africa, Orange, IP Planet, Vodacom, Dijoubti Telecom, Safarifone and Africell RDC SPRL.; Russian network service providers Romantis and RuSat LLC; and media customers including TV & Radio Broadcasting and MultiChoice of South Africa.

Intelsat 33e will also deliver enterprise-grade, broadband services to aeronautical and maritime mobility service providers and users. The satellite combines wide and high performing spot beams facilitating combined live television and broadband applications within the same network. As previously announced, prestigious maritime mobility customers such as EMC, Harris CapRock and Marlink, and aero mobility customers such as Gogo and Panasonic Avionics have committed to the Intelsat EpicNG fleet for mobility and fixed and mobile enterprise applications. - TradeArabia News Service