Kuala Lumpur – MEASAT announced that the MEASAT-3a satellite, launched on 22 June 2009 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on a Landlaunch Zenit-3SLB launch vehicle, had successfully completed in-orbit testing and entered full commercial service. The newly commissioned satellite was handed over from Orbital Sciences Corporation, the satellite’s manufacturer, to MEASAT at a ceremony at the Company’s primary operations centre outside of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. “MEASAT-3a provides an additional 24 transponders, to the 48 transponder already provided by MEASAT-3 at the company’s key 91.5E orbital location, allowing for the continued growth of our DTH and high definition (HD) video distribution neighbourhoods,” said Paul Brown-Kenyon, chief operating officer, MEASAT. “Having secured customers for over half of the satellite’s payload, we expect the satellite to be accretive to earnings before the end of the year.” With the introduction of MEASAT-3a, the MEASAT fleet now comprises of four satellites across three orbital locations. The fleet is able to provide satellite services to over 145 countries stretching from Australia to Nigeria.