Yahsat has announced that their third satellite Al Yah 3, located at 20°W,  has successfully completed its on orbit testing and is ready to support the launch of commercial services.

Artistic rendition of Yahsat's Al Yah-3 satellite.

The satellite will expand Yahsat’s Ka-band coverage to 19 additional markets across Africa covering 60% of the population and marks Yahsat’s first entry into Brazil, where 95% of the population will have access to the satellite's broadband services. The successful mission is the culmination of a project which has seen the Al Yah 3 satellite, designed and built with Emirati engineers, leading at every stage of the process, in partnership with Orbital ATK. The engineers were crucial in ensuring the successful end-to-end delivery of the satellite into orbit.

Al Yah 3, an all Ka-band satellite, and the first hybrid electric propulsion GEOStar-3™ satellite completed by Orbital ATK, was launched on an Ariane 5 rocket by Arianespace, on January 26th 2018.

Masood M. Sharif Mahmood, Chief Executive Officer at Yahsat, said that access to the internet is a key facilitator of social and economic progress. Today, broadband connectivity is playing an important role in creating new opportunities and in accelerating innovation. The company is excited by the opportunity Al Yah 3 brings in the firm's ability to deliver reliable and affordable satellite broadband services to parts of the world that need it the most, building upon the company's previous achievements as pioneers of such services across Africa, the Middle East and south-west Asia.
 
Mahmood added that it has been an incredible journey for Yahsat and a proud moment for both the company and for the UAE. The company's engineers have been heavily involved in managing all aspects of the project, including design, development and launch with the focus now on the commercial launch of Yahsat services using Al Yah 3 over the coming weeks.