Telesat Leases Telstar 12 Capacity, Transponders on Telstar 11N

[Satellite Today 09-15-08] Talia has acquired a large amount of capacity on Telesat‘s Telstar 12 satellite, Telesat announced Sept. 15.
    According to Telesat, Talia will use the capacity to host its iDirect Evolution DVB-S2 networks available in the Middle East and North Africa region.
    "DVB-S2 technologies vastly improve with higher power, and Telstar 12 allows us to provide excellent coverage throughout the entire Middle East, Europe, and the British Isles all within one footprint," said Talia COO, Travis Mooney.
    Talia said it’s Telstar service is designed to accommodate a large number of sites for corporate, NGO, government, military, and private customers. Talia already operates iDirect Infiniti networks in the Middle East and North Africa on a variety of satellites.
    In addition, Telesat announced it signed a contract with NewWave Broadband Ltd. on Sept. 15  to provide the equivalent of three transponders on Telesatfs Telstar 11N satellite. NewWave said it is also rolling out its first iDirect DVB-S2 platform to support land-based VSAT services.
    According to Telesat, Telstar 11N will provide  Ku-band transponder capacity with high power over four key areas, including: The Atlantic Ocean; Western and Sub-Saharan Africa; Western and Central Europe and North Africa; and North and Central America, as well as the Caribbean.  Launch of T11N is scheduled between December 2008 and February 2009.