Asia Broadcast Satellite (ABS) has announced the confirmation of the build of ABS-2A, a multi-beam 48 transponder, Ku satellite, which will be launched in the Q4 of 2015 to ABS’ prime 75 degrees East location.
ABS-2A, covering the growing markets of Russia, India, the Middle East, Africa, South East Asia and the Indian Ocean region, will follow ABS-2, the largest satellite to be launched over Asia scheduled in late 2013. With 2.6 GHz of Ku-band spectrum, ABS-2A nearly doubles the available Ku-band frequencies available at 75 degrees East. Together with ABS-2, ABS-2A will deliver a total of 100 x 54MHz Ku-band capacity to a growing list of premium DTH customers, VSAT operators and maritime and mobility customers.
ABS-2A with 7.5kW of payload power is the second of the four Boeing 702SP all-electric satellites that ABS is purchasing from Boeing Satellite Systems International in partnership with Satmex. ABS-2A, along with ABS-3A, is part of the 702SP production line, an all-electric propulsion satellite that minimises the spacecraft’s mass and maximises available payload. It will be dual launched with its co-passenger Satmex-9, on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, in the Q4 of 2015.
“We are very excited to confirm ABS-2A, our second 702SP Boeing satellite which carries the industry innovating, all-electric propulsion system. We are extremely pleased that we are able to partner again with Satmex to launch ABS-2A along with Satmex-9 in the fourth quarter of 2015,” says Tom Choi, CEO of ABS.
“The next three years will be very exciting for ABS as we are completing a USD 750 million satellite expansion programme delivering three new satellites over the next 36 months with ABS-2 to 75 degrees East, ABS-3A to 3 degrees West and ABS-2A to 75 degrees East. ABS already has over USD 800 million of backlog and we anticipate this to grow over USD 1 billion this year. When we deliver ABS-2A to orbit in 2015, we anticipate our annual revenue will more than triple from 2013. The majority of the customers who have confirmed contracts on ABS-2 have already committed to ABS-2A. It’s truly exciting and pleasing to see the boldness of our plans being matched by the commitment of our anchor customers.”
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