SES, Pactel expand business partnership with new multi-year capacity deal

Satellite Services recently inked a multi-year, multi-transponder deal with global communications provider Pactel to provide capacity on the NSS-9 at 183 degrees East. This is to help enhance the company’s voice and data service offerings within the Pacific region.

With this new development, Pactel will be able to provide improved satellite communications services to distant locations in the Pacific region, allowing several businesses to access high-speed and reliable internet connectivity and voice calls at a very competitive price.

“In the Pacific region, where satellite is the ideal infrastructure, we see how vital connectivity is for businesses. With Pactel as our trusted partner in the region, we are proud to be able to continue supporting their objectives in offering connectivity solutions across the islands,” SES Senior Vice President of Commercial for Asia-Pacific and Middle East Deepak Mathur said in a company statement.

Echoing the statement of Deepak Mathur, Pactel International CEO Andrew Taylor said, “Demand for connectivity in the Pacific region is growing rapidly, and we are pleased that we can rely on the global expertise of SES to provide reliable satellite capacity and offer flexible solutions.

SES, Anadolu Networks announce capacity deal for local DTH platform in Turkey

2013 will witness a new satellite capacity deal between SES and Turkey-based Anadolu Networks. The two companies made it known that SES will devote one of the transponders on one of its ASTRA satellite for Anadolu's direct-to-home (DTH) satellite TV platform.

The Anadolu DTH platform will broadcast local TV channels across Turkey. It will tap the SES ASTRA 1G satellite at the prime orbital position of 31.5 degrees East for capacity and coverage.

In addition, Anadolu Networks has plans for the ASTRA 5B satellite set for launch during the third quarter of 2013. Anadolu will use ASTRA 5B to deliver its its content to Germany, the CIS region, and other countries outside of Turkey.

According to Norbert Hölzle, SES Senior Vice President of Commercial Europe, the DTH satellite TV platform launched by Anadolu Networks will not just increase the audiences of Turkish regional TV channels. It will also widen the reach of their businesses, allowing them to cater to a larger group of consumers outside local communities in Turkey through the advantages provided by satellite.

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CENI taps SES Broadband Services for connectivity during Burkina Faso parliamentary elections

SES Broadband Services has entered an agreement with the Independent National Elections Committee (CENI) of Burkina Faso for satellite broadband services during the African country's parliamentary elections on December 2, 2012.

The SES affiliate will be teaming up with Newtec, Access Sat, and Unicom. They will provide CENI with satellite equipment and bandwidth for Internet on satellite access, surveillance, and video conferencing services. They will also deploy a satellite communications network that will link together 14,698 polling stations, 45 electoral district offices that serve as the hubs for the stations, and the central election office in Burkina Faso'scapital city of Ouagadougou to ensure the swift and secure communication of ballots.

SES will leverage bandwidth from its satellite at the 5 degrees East orbital slot. Newtec is tasked with providing hardware and hub infrastructure. The VSAT terminals will be installed by Access Sat while Unicom will produce the equipment for the video and LAN network.

According to a statement by Mr. Barthelemy Kéré, the President of CENI, the Committee picked the satellite VSAT platformed offered by SES because it is able to deploy to and transmit electoral data from remote regions. The mobile satellite communications technology will help make sure that the electoral process in Burkina Faso stays transparent. SES and its partners will not only provide fast and reliable data transfer services. They will also deploy biometrics for the voter registration and other innovations.

SES uses Trilogy Mercury system to coordinate stations

Satellite operator SES will be coordinating mission critical activities throughout its international operations and tracking stations through the Mercury multi-site IP communications system by Trilogy Communications.

SES's fleet of 50 satellites provide high-bandwidth communication links anywhere in the world. Broadcasters, companies, individuals, governments, and international institutions rely upon SES for fast and secure telecommunications, satellite broadband, and network connectivity needs.

Controlling this fleet are a total of nine Spacecraft Operations Centres (SOCs) and Telemetry, Tracking and Control (TT&C) Stations. The stations are found in the USA, Canada, Luxemburg, Gibraltar, Mexico, and Belgium. The large amount of data exchanged between these SOCs and TT&Cs require highly robust communications, which is delivered by Trilogy's Mercury system.

Mercury uses industry-standard IP connections to link SES' SOCs and TT&Cs together. Operators on either end gain the capability to communicate freely during routine operations such as repositioning the satellites, setting up ground systems, and planned and unplanned maintenance.

A Mercury Interface Unit (MIU) has been installed at each of the nine SES SOCs and TT&Cs to facilitate the connections. Because of the critical nature of the operations they support, Trilogy added a dual redundant power supply and a second standby unit to each MIU.

Mercury operator positions feature a 16 Key communications panel that allows latching or non-latching participation in one-to-one, group, or conference calls. The PC-based Mercury Configuration Editor eases the task of configuring all these groups and conferences.

Mercury also provides a Quick Response (QRS) key which stores the number of the last person to call a panel, and audio recording through a Stancil VoIP Network Recorder that can be accessed from a back-up or live from any point on the network. The recording option can be configured to match current or planned operations. These features will pay significant dividends in improving SES’s communications capability and overall operational efficiency.