Eutelsat Extends Agreement With Russian Satellite Communications Company for Satellite Control from the Dubna Satellite Communications Center

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Sep 15, 2011, 01:22 ET

PARIS and MOSCOW, September 15, 2011 /PRNewswire/ --

Eutelsat Communications (Euronext Paris: ETL) and the RSCC (Russian Satellite Communications Company) today announced they have extended the agreement under which RSCC provides key services to control Eutelsat's satellites. RSCC manages satellite control activities for Eutelsat from its Dubna Satellite Communications Center (SCC) near Moscow.

The new five-year contract, which will take effect in September 2012, was signed in Paris during World Satellite Business Week by Michel de Rosen, Eutelsat CEO, and Yuri Prokhorov, CEO of RSCC. It extends the collaboration on satellite control between both companies which began in 1997 when RSCC was selected by Eutelsat to be a partner in its international ground station network following an international consultation.

Operations for Eutelsat began in Dubna in 1998. The facilities located today at RSCC's centre comprise eight antenna systems for simultaneous monitoring and control of ten Eutelsat satellites in geostationary orbit.

Michel de Rosen, Eutelsat CEO, commented on the new contract: "RSCC represents a partner with exceptional competence in satellite control services and we have no hesitation in renewing our longstanding collaboration. With the significant expansion of our fleet over almost 15 years, and in particular the deployment of satellites further East, the Dubna facilities have been an important asset for efficient and flexible operations. We look forward to taking this cooperation to a new level."

"This agreement is clear evidence of how comprehensive, long-term, and successful the cooperation between two major players on the world satellite market can be if it is built on mutual understanding and efficient use of one another's capabilities," said Yuri Prokhorov, RSCC's Chief Executive Officer. "The RSCC satellite centre's unique geographic location enables it to monitor satellites in the orbital coverage area from 27 degrees West to 201 degrees East. The experience we have gained in working with Eutelsat has been successfully applied to similar projects for control and monitoring of other satellites, including RSCC's own fleet."

About RSCC

Russian Satellite Communications Company is the Russian national satellite communications operator, whose satellites provide global coverage. The company was formed in 1967 and is one of the ten largest satellite operators worldwide in terms of the size of its orbiting frequency resources. RSCC owns Russia's largest satellite constellation. Areas served by RSCC satellites, which are in orbit at points from 14° W to 140° E, cover all of Russia, the CIS countries, Europe, the Near East, Africa, the Asia-Pacific Region, North and South America, and Australia.

As Russia's national satellite communications operator, RSCC handles important national tasks, supporting mobile presidential and government communications, transmitting federal TV and radio signals throughout Russia and most of the world. The company actively participates in implementing priority national projects. RSCC closely interacts with the Russian state authorities in the development of information and telecommunications systems for communications and broadcasting. RSCC provides a full range of communications and broadcasting services using its own terrestrial equipment and satellite constellation, including modern Express-AM, Express-MD, Express-A, and Bonum-1 satellites and some French W4 satellite capacity. The company's satellites provide extensive capabilities to establish TV and radio broadcasting including DTH, IPTV, and MPEG-4 services, broadband Internet access, data transmission, videoconferencing, and deployment of VSAT networks and departmental and corporative communications networks worldwide. The company has a modern terrestrial satellite control system, which it uses to control not only its own satellites, but those of Eutelsat, Intelsat, and others as well.

The company includes five satellite communications centers (SCC): Dubna, Bear Lakes, Skolkovo, Zheleznogorsk, Khabarovsk and the Shabolovka Technical Center in Moscow and its own high-speed optical-fiber digital network.

http://www.rscc.ru

[email protected]

About Eutelsat Communications

Eutelsat Communications (Euronext Paris: ETL, ISIN code: FR0010221234) is the holding company of Eutelsat S.A.. With capacity commercialised on 27 satellites that provide coverage over the entire European continent, as well as the Middle East, Africa, India and significant parts of Asia and the Americas, Eutelsat is one of the world's three leading satellite operators in terms of revenues. At 30 June 2011, Eutelsat's satellites were broadcasting more than 3,800 television channels. More than 1,100 channels broadcast via its HOT BIRD™ video neighbourhood at 13 degrees East which serves over 120 million cable and satellite homes in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. The Group's satellites also serve a wide range of fixed and mobile telecommunications services, TV contribution markets, corporate networks, and broadband markets for Internet Service Providers and for transport, maritime and in-flight markets. Eutelsat's broadband subsidiary, Skylogic, markets and operates access to high speed internet services through teleports in France and Italy that serve enterprises, local communities, government agencies and aid organisations in Europe, Africa, Asia and the Americas. Headquartered in Paris, Eutelsat and its subsidiaries employ just over 700 commercial, technical and operational employees from 30 countries.