Amazonas 3 ready for work
March 25, 2013
By Chris Forrester
Hispasat’s giant Amazonas 3 satellite, which launched on February 7th, is ready to be formally put to work. Test transmissions have gone well and the transfer of some of Amazonas 1’s channels will begin in a few days at the 61 degrees West orbital slot.
Amazonas 3 was launched on board of rocket Ariane 5 ECA from Kourou in French Guyana, and is officially operated by its Brazilian affiliate Hispamar Satellites. Amazonas 3 offers 52 simultaneous transponders, 33 in Ku-Band, 19 in C-Band and 9 spot beams in Ka-Band. This last feature turns Hispasat into the first operator in enabling multimedia services in Latin America.
Last year Hispasat achieved 6.85 per cent income growth, reaching $266.2 million revenues. Amazonas is used by Telefonica for its DTH services in Latin America and also by Claro TV in Chile and Paraguay.