The newest satellite for SES  — SES-12 — is now ready to serve its video, fixed data, mobility and government customers across Asia-Pacific and the Middle East.

Artistic rendition of the SES-12 satellite on-orbit.

The satellite, which is designed with state-of-the-art wide beams and high throughput beams, will join SES-8 at 95 degrees East. SES-12 is the latest satellite that SES has launched to that orbital position where it will operate under the authority of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The all-electric satellite will replace and augment the services currently being provided on SES’s NSS-6 satellite.

SES-12 is SES’s third hybrid satellite with wide beams and high throughput payload. Like SES-14 and SES-15 which serve the Americas, the SES-12 high throughput payload is SES’s solution for enhancing cost-effective connectivity solutions for aeronautical and maritime customers across Asia-Pacific and the Middle East. SES-12 will also be pivotal in enabling governments to provide connectivity programs to bridge the digital divide, and in allowing telcos, mobile network operators and internet service providers to deliver reliable and enhanced cellular backhaul and faster broadband services.

Together with SES-8, SES-12 will reach key direct-to-home neighborhoods. The satellites will provide payTV operators the reliability and scalability to improve viewing experiences by enhancing their content offerings, including delivering higher-quality picture quality to address the audience’s burgeoning demand for HD and Ultra HD content.

The SpaceX launch of the SES-12 satellite.

SES-12 has six wide beams and 72 high throughput user spot beams, and also has a Digital Transparent Processor (DTP) to increase payload flexibility to provide much more customizable bandwidth solutions to SES customers. The all-electric SES-12 spacecraft was built by Airbus Defence and Space, and launched by SpaceX. It will join SES’s network of seven geostationary satellites and 16 MEO satellites across Asia-Pacific and the Middle East.

Executive Comment

Ruy Pinto, CTO at SES, said the company is excited that SES-12 is now ready to serve customers in Asia-Pacific and the Middle East and SES wishes to thank the Airbus and SpaceX teams for their hard work on making this possible. SES-12, with its high performance capacity, will be able to offer much more reliability and flexibility to customers and enable them to deliver premium services.