Intelsat has struck a two-year deal to jointly operate Spanish satellite operator Hisapsat’s Amazonas-1 bird from its 55.5W slot to cover the FIFA World Cup next month.
Amazonas-1, which was launched in 2004 but due to a fuel anomaly has a reduced…
Intelsat has struck a two-year deal to jointly operate Spanish satellite operator Hisapsat’s Amazonas-1 bird from its 55.5W slot to cover the FIFA World Cup next month.
Amazonas-1, which was launched in 2004 but due to a fuel anomaly has a reduced life of around 10 years, has already moved to its new position to join Intelsat’s Galaxy-11 bird.
The two operators today said they will be sharing orbital resources at this location immediately to expand services for media and other customers in Latin America.
Hispasat CEO Carlos Espinós said: “This deal also enables Hispasat to fully exploit the capability and service life of Amazonas 1 and to operate at a new orbital position, thereby further strengthening the group’s position in Latin America.
“This agreement, unprecedented in the history of our company, exemplifies Hispasat’s endeavours to optimise resources in orbit under its new growth plan.”
It comes barely a week after Hispasat won rights to the 61W orbital slot in Brazil’s recent auction through the Hispamar JV it shares with local telco Oi.
Intelsat had also registered to take part in that auction but came away empty handed. The other winners were SES and Eutelsat.
