SES WORLD SKIES, a division of SES S.A. (Euronext Paris and Luxembourg Stock Exchange: SESG), announced the NSS-12 satellite has entered commercial service at the orbital location of 57 degrees East. The NSS-12 satellite is the 41st spacecraft in SES’ global fleet.

NSS-12 was successfully launched onboard an Ariane 5 rocket on October 29, 2009. The spacecraft replaces NSS-703 at a key orbital location at the crossroads of Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Australia. All traffic on NSS-703 has been transferred to NSS-12. NSS-12 delivers DTH power and performance through four regional Ku-band spot beams over the Middle East, Europe, Central and Southern Asia and, for the first time, Eastern Africa. The satellite’s high-capacity, high-power C-band hemispheric beams — one covering Europe, Africa (including Mauritius) and the Middle East, and the other stretching across Asia to Australia — have been augmented by a powerful C-band global beam spanning from the UK to the Far East. The satellite reaches an estimated two-thirds of the world’s population. It features 40 C-band transponders and 48 Ku-band transponders with DTH power levels, as well as elaborate beam interconnectivity and C/Ku-band cross-strapping. The NSS-12 spacecraft was manufactured by Space Systems/Loral (SSL), a subsidiary of Loral Space & Communications.