Measat buys telecom satellite for Asia

Measat Global has purchased a namesake satellite from Orbital sciences for telecom coverage of Malaysia, Indonesia and points as far away as the Middle East.

A report in Malaysia's Edge Daily said Friday the transaction for the Measat-1R spacecraft was valued at nearly $70 million and would give Measat C and Ku-band coverage and 36 Megahertz of bandwidth for 15 years.

Company officials said in a news release that the deal was prompted by growing demand for leasing on the Measat-3 satellite and the looming need to replace Measat-1.

"Measat is experiencing strong demand for satellite services at our key 91.5E orbital location," said Measat Director Tun Hanif Omar, who estimated that 2 million satellite antennae in the Asia Pacific region were fixed on that point in the sky.

Measat-1R will be located adjacent to Measat-3 at the 91.5 location and become operational at a date that was not revealed.

Copyright 2005 by United Press International