[SatNews] APT Satellite Holdings Limited (APT) has announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary, APT Satellite Company Limited, has recently signed a long-term transponder lease agreement on APSTAR 2R (Telstar 10) with HBO Asia. The agreement also covers APSTAR 2R's replacement satellite APSTAR 7, set to be launched in early 2012.

APSTAR 2R, which is located in geostationary orbital slot at 76.5 degree East, was launched in November of 1997. Its C-band transponders have very broad footprints covering the Asia Pacific region and its Ku-band transponders cover mainly Greater China. In an effort to replace APSTAR 2R in time, APT commissioned APSTAR 7 with Thales Alenia Space France on September 29, 2009. APSTAR 7 is the latest advanced telecommunication satellite based on the Spacebus 4000 C2 platform, with 28 C-band transponders and 28 Ku-band transponders offering reliable broadcasting and telecommunications services over hemispheric footprints covering the Asia Pacific Region, Middle East, and Africa.

APT has also signed a supplemental agreement with HBO Asia whereby APT will provide additional capacity with APSTAR 6 for HBO Asia's contingency solution to ensure business continuity. HBO Asia is available in 22 territories across Asia including Bangladesh, Brunei, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Macau, Maldives, Malaysia, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, People's Republic of China, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam, and on military bases in South Korea. HBO offers closed-captioned subtitling in Bahasa Indonesia, Bahasa Malaysia, Cyrillic, English, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Thai, and Vietnamese.