OREANDA-NEWS. September 8, 2008. ProtoStar I Ltd., a Bermuda company, confirmed the signing of an Orbital Location services agreement with the INTERSPUTNIK International Organization of Space Communications (Intersputnik) of Russia to provide for Ku and C band services from the ProtoStar I satellite in Asia from a position at 98.5° East Longitude under the INTERSPUTNIK-98.5ECK ITU filing.

The agreement with Intersputnik has been formally filed with the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) and reflects an expanding working relationship between ProtoStar and Intersputnik. Agreements between the parties were reached prior to ProtoStar I’s successful launch by Arianespace on July 7, 2008 from the European Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana on board an Ariane 5 rocket. ProtoStar is proud to announce that the ProtoStar I spacecraft has successfully completed its in-orbit testing. Commercial service is expected to start on October 1, 2008 with capacity being leased primarily to direct-to-home (DTH), broadband Internet and GSM cellular backhaul service providers across South and Southeast Asia. ProtoStar II, currently under construction at Boeing, is expected to be launched in the first quarter of 2009 on a Proton Breeze M rocket provided by International Launch Services (ILS). The footprints of ProtoStar I and II across Asia have been customized to meet the immediate and long term needs of its anchor DTH operator customers and are being positioned in orbital slots that will provide coverage to South Asia, South East Asia and Indochina, an area with a population of over 3 billion.