Everyone appreciates being recognized for their good work, and so Intelsat, Ltd., a provider of fixed satellite services, was named “Operator of the Year” at the 2009 SatCom Africa conference last week in Johannesburg, South Africa. The award was presented by the conference organizer, Terrapinn, during a reception attended by hundreds of senior industry executives.

The SatCom Star Awards recognize companies within the satellite industry that continue to grow satellite-enabled communication services in Africa. The “Satellite Operator of the Year” Award honored Intelsat’s long-standing leadership in providing a communications infrastructure that has extended voice, data and media services to the most remote regions of the continent and for Intelsat’s pro bono support and distribution of the Mindset Network, which provides educational television programming services to millions. It also recognized Intelsat for its introduction of its New Dawn satellite project, a joint venture between Intelsat and a South African investor group led by Convergence Partners, which will provide new capacity and services specifically designed to meet the changing communications needs of Africa.

Intelsat has been offering innovative solutions to Africa for nearly four decades. Intelsat was the first to introduce satellite services in the region, the first to launch pan-regional broadband networks in many African nations and most notably, Intelsat was the first satellite operator to bring cellular backhaul services to the region and to offer satellite technology as a vehicle to expand healthcare and education throughout the continent.

“We are honored to be recognized by the organizers of the SatCom Africa Conference, and given this prestigious award,” said Flavien Bachabi, Intelsat’s Vice President, Africa. “Through Intelsat’s leadership and foresight, satellite-enabled applications such as cellular backhaul, DTH, Internet connectivity and educational services have become more robust. We look forward to the continued expansion of our services, providing our customers with reliable, resilient and secure transmissions for their voice, video and data networking needs.”