Luxembourg and Johannesburg, South Africa – Intelsat S.A. (NYSE: I) announced on June 11 that it has signed a 15-year service agreement with MultiChoice, an African pay-TV provider, 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 68.5ËšE, Intelsat’s premier direct-to-home (DTH) neighbourhood in Africa. MultiChoice has been the anchor customer at the 68.5ËšE location since 1995.
“MultiChoice’s success is built upon offering our subscribers the best content and customer experience. By growing our presence at Intelsat’s 68.5ËšE neighbourhood, we continue to bring our customers new and innovative services,” said Tim Jacobs, Group CFO of MultiChoice. “Intelsat’s continued support will enable us to grow our business, providing viewers with high quality programming and compelling entertainment services.”
“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. “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 utilise the Ku-band payload. The C-band payload will provide services to other customers using the premier Intelsat 68.5ËšE video neighbourhood, which also distributes content to South Asian cable communities.
Concurrently with this news, Intelsat filed a report on Form 6-K with the Securities and Exchange Commission updating its 2014-2016 capital expenditure and customer prepayment guidance to reflect the net impact of the new satellite programme.
