Arabsat and Dubai Studio City organize seminar on 'Badr-4 & Badr-6 Satellites - Strategic Horizons'

"Badr-4 and Badr-6 Satellites - Strategic Horizons to Serve Middle East and North Africa Region", was held at Dubai Press Club and attended by a gathering of industry leaders, and regional broadcasting and media representatives.

Co-positioned at 26° East, Arabsat's "Hot-Spot" covering 130 million Direct-to-Home TV viewers, Badr-4 is the latest-generation satellite with state-of-the-art technology. It is intended to maintain Arabsat's pioneering position in the field of television satellite broadcasting and telecom services. Arabsat was recently ranked among the top ten global satellite operators.

Addressing the event, Eng. Khalid Balkhyour, President and CEO of Arabsat, said:

"This seminar follows the successful launch of Badr-4 last year, and the start of its commercial operations. The new satellite will further our capabilities and ensure more growth opportunities for the company in both the short and long term."

Arabsat was honoured last week at the "Human Timeline" convention Washington, United States by the Society of Satellite Professionals International (SSPI), for being the first satellite operator in the Middle East and Southern Mediterranean region, more than 30 years ago.

"Arabsat expresses its gratitude to Dr. Amina Rustamani, Executive Director of Media, TECOM Investments, for Dubai Media City's ongoing support of Arabsat, starting from the erection of the first digital platform for satellite TV broadcasting from DMC to the recently signed contract for the second platform. We hope this cooperation will prosper and develop in the years to come" Balkhyour added.

Dr. Amina Rustamani said: "Arabsat is a long standing partner of Dubai Media City and Dubai Studio City. We are proud of this successful cooperation. We greatly look forward to taking this relationship to new levels of growth and efficiency that benefits the maximum number of broadcasters in the region.

"In our pursuit of excellence, we leverage our partners' strengths, expertise, and solutions to provide the most sophisticated infrastructure and services for the local, regional and international media community. Arabsat is a key partner that helps us realize our ambitions for the future of the industry."

Aware of the crucial importance of back-up capacities to guarantee continuation of service, Arabsat is committed to meet the current and forecast market demands, underlining its future ambitious plans to obtain and operate satellites and maintain their orbital positions.

The recent launch of Badr-4, first of its 4th Generation satellites, represents a major milestone in delivering on this commitment, complemented by the launch of Badr-6 scheduled to take place as early as mid-2008. To complete this overall new fleet architecture, Arabsat is currently in the final stages of actively drafting contracts for manufacturing and launching its 5th Generation satellites that will provide both long-term expansion capacity as well as critical in-orbit back-up.

Arabsat is the only qualified organization in the Middle East with a fully integrated fleet of satellites, including all frequency bands to cope with future expansions expected to take place in the Middle East.