[Satellite TODAY 09-16-09] SES World Skies signed a multi-year capacity deal in Africa with Netcom to augment its existing capacity by utilizing multi Ku-band transponders, the company announced Sept. 15.
The expanded capacity aims to enable Netcom to meet rising demand for its broad range of telecom and broadcast television services among businesses, universities and consumers in cities and towns across the West African nation of Nigeria and beyond.
    “Netcom is using this latest layer of satellite capacity from SES World Skies to serve a broad range of exciting applications across Nigeria and West Africa. From high-speed IP backbone connections for a leading mobile phone company to dedicated broadband for schools and travel agencies and a TV station’s DVB broadcast across the continent, SES World Skies is enabling Netcom to meet the tremendous regional demand for connectivity and content,” said Yen Choi, group executive vice president and CTO for Netcom Africa, in a statement.
    Separately, Polish broadcaster Telewizja Polska (TVP) signed a deal with SES Astra to launch its FTA television platform on the Astra 1KR satellite, SES announced Sept. 15.
    TVP extended its satellite capacity contracts for the use of two transponders at Astra’s main orbital position 19.2 degrees East, which it has been using since 2005. Based on the new contract, TVP will use a spot beam, which is available on Astra 1KR, allowing TVP to broadcast all its Polish free-to-air channels in an unencrypted form to the Polish market.

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