Intelsat announced it has been granted rights by The Brazilian National Telecommunications Agency (ANATEL) to operate its powerful, new Intelsat Americas-8 (IA-8) satellite in the Brazilian market. The IA-8, a hybrid Ku- Ka- and C-Band satellite launched in June 2005, is now available to serve a wide range of customers in Brazil, including broadcasters and telecom carriers.
The IA-8’s high power, linear C-Band and Ku-Band payloads, broad coverage area and connection to Intelsat’s hybrid network combine to offer the Brazilian market seamless satellite coverage within and outside of Brazil.
Because of the large coverage area of IA-8, Brazilian broadcasters and channels carried on the satellite have access to large numbers of viewers – both in Brazil and in most other Latin American countries. Additionally, the satellite’s power enables reception in DTH antennas as small as 65 centimeters in diameter.
IA-8 is the newest and most powerful satellite in the Intelsat system, which includes 28 satellites (14 of which cover Latin America and the Caribbean) and a terrestrial network with Points Of Presence in six countries. It operates from the 89°W orbital position and offers coverage of South America, the Caribbean and North America, including Alaska and Hawaii.
For coverage of South America, IA-8 employs six 72 MHz C-band and twelve 36 MHz Ku-band transponders with linear polarization for easy deployment. The high power and coverage area of IA-8 enables it to support broadcast content distribution, corporate VSATs and broadband applications, including high-speed Internet access, multicasting and streaming.
Broadcasters using IA-8 can take advantage of Intelsat’s large satellite network, allowing them to transmit programming to an extended audience and give their customers access to a large international programming community.
“The IA-8’s payload is optimally designed to cover Brazil,” said Erwin Mercado, Intelsat’s Regional Vice President, Latin America and Caribbean. “We expect our customers across the region will benefit from the higher power, robust network and reliable hybrid capacity IA-8 offers – allowing them to grow their businesses with greater efficiency.”
Mercado added, “IA-8’s coverage is also favorable to mobile operators who will be able to extend their networks into very remote regions, using a satellite-backhaul solution.
Similarly, Brazilian-based telecom service providers can use IA-8 capacity to deliver voice, broadband data and Internet to consumers in the region’s most remote locations.”
He concluded, “In addition, enterprise network service providers can use the highly efficient IA-8 platform to connect their corporate networking clients. These service providers will benefit from IA-8’s increased power and broad Brazilian coverage area, along with the high reliability for which the Intelsat system is well known.”
Intelsat has been a leading provider of satellite capacity to Latin American countries for 40 years. Its customers include Brazil’s largest broadcaster, major telecommunications companies and enterprise network service providers. Every day, more than 140 telecommunications providers and broadcasters in Latin America rely on Intelsat connectivity services to support their businesses wherever they operate.