WAM Paris, Jan 19th, 2013 (WAM)-- Arab Satellite Communications Organisation (Arabsat) and the consortium of two companies Astrium and Thales Alenia Space and the company of Arianespace have signed two contracts for manufacturing and launching the first satellite in Arabsat 6th generation of satellites Badr -7.

Arabsat held a ceremony today in Riyadh under the patronage of the Saudi Minister of Culture and Information Prof. Abdul Aziz Bin Mohey Aldeen Khoga, attended by Minister of Telecommunications and Information Technology Eng. Mohamed Gamil Bin Ahmed Molla and the French Minister of Economic Regeneration Arnaud Montebourg in addition to the presence of a highly representatives of the private '&' governmental field of Telecommunications and Media and a numerous local and international press.

Eng. Khalid bin Ahmed Balkhyour President '&' CEO of Arabsat said the contracts for manufacturing and launching Badr-7 that were signed today worth more than 400 million U.S $, and the new satellite Badr- 7 will be co-located at Arabsat exclusive Hot Spot 26 E with Arabsat other satellites known as BADR. Badr-7 will provide massive satellite capacities for television broadcasting, Telecommunications and information exchanging services in ku-band in addition to the broadband services in ka-band.

The 6th generation satellites are a quantum leap in terms of the manufacturing technology and the capabilities of these satellites. Badr-7 will be manufactured by the consortium of Astrium that will manufacture the highly reliable Eurostar E3000 platform and Thales Alenia Space that will design and build the communications payload, while the Global company Arianespace will launch the Satellite.

The new satellite will cover the Middle East, Africa, Asia and many parts of Europe.

WAM/MN