[SatNews] Boeing [NYSE: BA] has received a contract for approximately $1 billion from the government of Mexico to deliver an end-to-end satellite communications system.

The system, known as MEXSAT, will consist of three satellites, two ground sites, associated network operations systems and reference user terminals. MEXSAT will provide secure communications for Mexico’s national security needs, as well as enhanced coverage for the country’s civil telecommunications. Under the contract, Boeing will deliver a complete turnkey satellite system comprised of Boeing 702HP geomobile satellites MEXSAT-1 and MEXSAT-2, plus one extended C- and Ku-band satellite, MEXSAT-3, which will provide fixed satellite services from geosynchronous orbit. MEXSAT-3 is scheduled to launch first, at the end of 2012.

Each Boeing 702HP satellite will supply 14 kilowatts of power through five-panel solar array wings that use high-efficiency, ultra triple-junction gallium arsenide solar cells. Both satellites will carry a 22m L-band reflector for mobile satellite services, complemented by a 2m Ku-band antenna. Boeing will procure MEXSAT-3 and a spacecraft operations center from its supplier partner, Orbital Sciences Corporation [NYSE: ORB]. MEXSAT-3, an Orbital Star 2.4 satellite, will provide full coverage of Mexico and its patrimonial seas and relay civil communications for socioeconomic development.

On the Orbital side of the news, the Company signed their contract with The Boeing Company (NYSE: BA) to provide the complete Fixed Satellite Services (FSS) segment of the MEXSAT satellite system for the Federal Government of Mexico. The Ministry of Communications and Transports is overseeing the three-satellite project, which includes two larger spacecraft (MEXSAT-1 and MEXSAT-2) provided by Boeing as well as the smaller MEXSAT-3 spacecraft provided by Orbital.

The MEXSAT-3 satellite is the 32nd commercial geosynchronous satellite ordered from Orbital by customers around the world, and the second such order placed with the company in 2010. Earlier this year, the company was selected by The Ministry of Communications and Information Technologies of the Republic of Azerbaijan for the complete Azerspace/Africasat-1a satellite system, including both the satellite and ground system segments of the project.