[SatNews] During CommunicAsia2015, Arianespace reaffirmed their ambitions in the Asia-Pacific market.

CommunicAsia 2015 is the 26th International Communications and Information Technology Exhibition and Conference. Held each year in Singapore, it draws industry professionals from over one hundred countries. Arianespace, as a benchmark launch services provider for satellite manufacturers and operators from the Asia-Pacific, will be present throughout the show, from June 2 to 5, at Booth IT3-07 in Marina Bay Sands (level 1, hall C).

Nearly two-thirds of satellites belonging to operators in the Asia-Pacific region were launched by Arianespace: a total of 71 launched for 16 regional operators over a period of 34 years. Arianespace has built a strong presence in the Asia-Pacific, based on the opening of offices in Tokyo as early as 1986 and Singapore in 1996. This region now generates nearly 30 percent of the company's order book for commercial launches of geostationary telecommunications satellites. Arianespace now has 11 satellite launches on order in the upcoming years for customers in Australia, India, Indonesia, Japan and South Korea.

In 2014 and the first half of this year, Arianespace signed six launch contracts with operators from this region:

• 2014: BRI-Sat for the Indonesian operator BRI, JCSAT 15 for the Japanese operator SKY Perfect JSAT Corporation, Koreasat 7 for the South Korean operator Korea Telecom Corporation, and Telkom 3S for the Indonesian operator PT Telkom.
• 2015 to date (May 31): GEO-Kompsat 2A and 2B for the Korea Aerospace Research Institute, KARI.

For the remainder of 2015, at least two launches are planned for customers in the region.

The Asia-Pacific region is developing a steady stream of innovative satellite solutions, reflected in its projects dedicated to Internet access, tele-medicine and tele-learning applications, and other applications to monitor natural disasters. The region is also a pioneer in the implementation of satellite-based cellular networks, and is leading the growth of the brand-new, ultra-high definition TV (UHDTV) broadcast (4K) sector, also via satellite.

Arianespace's advantages for operators in the Asia-Pacific...

• 65 successful Ariane 5 launches in a row
• 11 launches in all from the Guiana Space Center in French Guiana (South America, near the equator) in 2014, orbiting a total of 23 satellites
• Enhanced capacity and flexibility in 2015, with the commissioning in July of a "New Filling Hall", an additional facility to load launcher propellants

Building on its family of launchers and top-flight launch solutions, Arianespace signs, year after year, at least half of all commercial launch contracts open to competition on the international market. Arianespace's order book now stands at more than four billion euros, from 34 customers. This healthy backlog of orders guarantees over three years of business for the company, based on 23 launches of Ariane 5, including 37 satellites to be boosted into geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) and four dedicated launches, five Soyuz launches and 11 Vega launches.

With the introduction of Ariane 6 and Vega-C, additional customer benefits include...

• Development of Ariane 6 and Vega-C, enabling the company to offer advanced launch solutions for all market segments (GTO, MEO, LEO) starting in 2020, at competitive prices, and with solutions that perfectly match the current technology trends in satellite development, especially the increasing use of hybrid or all-electric propulsion systems on geostationary satellites
• Continued efforts to enhance the competitiveness of the current family of launchers (Ariane 5, Soyuz, Vega)

During CommunicAsia 2015, Arianespace Chairman and CEO, Stéphane Israël, said, "Our top-flight partnership with operators in the Asia-Pacific region keeps going from strength to strength, as we have signed five more contracts since the last edition of CommunicAsia. Our continuous focus is on competitiveness and our ability to develop solutions custom-tailored to the needs of operators in the region—we want to continue and even amplify this partnership, which will lead up to the service entry of the Ariane 6 and Vega-C launchers at the start of the next decade. These new-generation launchers will further reduce the cost of access to space for the greater benefit of our customers across all market segments."