SES Astra has said that its new Astra 3B satellite has been successfully deployed at its orbital position 23.5 degrees East and is ready for commercial operations.
The satellite, which was built by EADS Astrium and successfully launched from Kourou, French Guiana, on 21 May 2010, has passed all necessary in-orbit tests of the hardware and broadcasting functionalities on board.
Astra 3B delivers DTH broadcast services to the Benelux countries and Eastern Europe, as well as services to public and private satellite communication networks across Europe and the Middle East. This is includes the Astra2Connect broadband access service. SES has already contracted a significant proportion of the capacity on Astra 3B.
