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Telesat's New Telstar 19 VANTAGE Satellite Now Operational
[August 27, 2018]

Telesat's New Telstar 19 VANTAGE Satellite Now Operational


OTTAWA, Aug. 27, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Telesat announced today that its new Telstar 19 VANTAGE high throughput satellite (HTS) is fully operational at 63 degrees West and has entered commercial service. Telstar 19 VANTAGE was launched by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on July 22nd and will serve growing consumer, enterprise and mobility markets across the Americas and Atlantic. It is being operated by Telesat Brasil, a Brazilian satellite company wholly-owned by Telesat.  

Telstar 19 VANTAGE was built by SSL, a Maxar Technologies company, and is the latest in a new generation of Telesat satellites with capacity optimized to serve the types of bandwidth intensive applications increasingly in demand by users worldwide. It operates from Telesat’s prime orbital location of 63 degrees West, the same as Telesat’s highly utilized Telstar 14R satellite, and brings a new level of performance and value for satellite broadband requirements on land, at sea and in the air. With its distinct zones of coverage across the Americas and Atlantic, Telstar 19 VANTAGE combines regional beams and high throughput spot beams in Ku-band with additional HTS spot beams in Ka-band.

As previously announced, Telesat customer Hughes Network Systems LLC (Hughes) has signed a 15-year agreement for Telstar 19 VANTAGE Ka-band capacity which Hughes refers to as Hughes 63 West. Hughes will utilize this capacity to expand its broadband satellite services for consumers and businesses in South America. Telesat also has long-term contracts for the entire Ka-band capacity of Telstar 19 VANTAGE over Northern Canada, including providing Bell Canada subsidiary Northwestel with the HTS spot beam capacity required to enhance broadband connectivity for all 25 communities in Nunavut, Canada’s northernmost territory.

“Telstar 19 VANTAGE is a state-of-the-art spacecraft that combines regional beams and high throughput spot beams to deliver superior performance and value to the marke,” said Dan Goldberg, Telesat’s President and CEO. “The pre-launch agreements Telesat has secured with Hughes and Bell Canada, combined with strong interest from other leading satellite service providers across the Americas and Atlantic, confirm that the innovative design of Telstar 19 VANTAGE is the right one to serve today’s bandwidth intensive applications. I would like to congratulate the teams at Telesat and SSL whose dedication and expertise enabled Telstar 19 VANTAGE to become fully operational within weeks after launch.”



About Telesat (www.telesat.com)
Telesat is a leading global satellite operator, providing reliable and secure satellite-delivered communications solutions worldwide to broadcast, telecom, corporate and government customers. Headquartered in Ottawa, Canada, with offices and facilities around the world, the company’s state-of-the-art fleet consists of 16 GEO satellites, the Canadian payload on ViaSat-1 and one Phase 1 LEO satellite which is the start of Telesat’s planned global LEO satellite constellation that will offer low latency, high throughput broadband services. An additional GEO satellite is being readied for launch. Telesat is also a leading technical consultant providing high value expertise and support to satellite operators, insurers and other industry participants on a global basis. Privately held, Telesat’s principal shareholders are Canada’s Public Sector Pension Investment Board and Loral Space & Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: LORL).

Forward-Looking Statements Safe Harbor
This news release contains statements that are not based on historical fact and are ‘‘forward-looking statements’’ within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. When used in this news release, the words “will”, “increasingly”, “growing”, or other variations of these words or other similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements and information. Actual results may differ materially from the expectations expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements as a result of known and unknown risks and uncertainties. Detailed information about some of the known risks and uncertainties is included in the “Risk Factors” section of Telesat Canada’s Annual Report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2017 which can be obtained on the SEC website at http://www.sec.gov. Known risks and uncertainties include but are not limited to: risks associated with operating satellites and providing satellite services, including satellite construction or launch delays, launch failures, in-orbit failures or impaired satellite performance, the ability to successfully deploy an advanced global LEO satellite constellation, volatility in exchange rates and risks associated with domestic and foreign government regulation. The foregoing list of important factors is not exhaustive. The information contained in this news release reflects Telesat’s beliefs, assumptions, intentions, plans and expectations as of the date of this news release. Except as required by law, Telesat disclaims any obligation or undertaking to update or revise the information herein.


For further information:
Gerry Nagler, Telesat +1 908 470-4907 ([email protected])

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