The satellite, ASTRA 3A, is a high-power Boeing 376HP model spacecraft and is scheduled for launch in 2002. The contract also includes launch services and ground station control software. The launch provider under this delivery-in-orbit contract will be announced at a later date, and financial terms were not disclosed.

"Boeing Satellite Systems has been building satellites for SES, one of our largest customers, since 1990," said Tig H. Krekel, president of Boeing Satellite Systems. "At that rate, we have essentially built one satellite for every year of our relationship. That's a tremendous endorsement of our systems and technology, and once again we are proud to support SES and pleased that they have returned to us once again."

ASTRA 3A will augment SES's existing fleet of 13 to help meet growing demand for digital satellite services. The payload consisting of 24 Ku-band transponders, 20 active, will provide high-power DTH services to the German-speaking markets of Germany, Austria and Switzerland from SES's new orbital position of 23.5 degrees East longitude. The ASTRA 3A satellite will have a contracted service life of at least 10 years.

"With this new procurement, SES renews its confidence in the world's leading manufacturer of commercial communications satellites, having delivered already seven out of 10 existing satellites in the ASTRA constellation," said Romain Bausch, director general and chairman of the Management Committee of SES.

"SES is confident that ASTRA 3A, like ASTRA 2C and ASTRA 2D, also currently under construction with Boeing Satellite Systems, will once again meet SES's stringent quality standards for high-performance spacecraft. Positioned at 23.5 degrees East, ASTRA 3A will provide SES with new business opportunities.

"In the immediate neighborhood of 19.2 degrees East -- today undisputedly the hottest orbital position for DTH reception of German-language television, radio and multimedia programming in Europe -- ASTRA 3A will offer competitively priced transmission capacity for Internet and broadband services targeting the German language markets in Europe," Bausch concluded.

Societe Europeenne des Satellites S.A. (SES) is the operator of ASTRA, Europe's leading direct-to-home satellite system. Via 10 satellites at the orbital positions of 19.2 degrees East and 28.2 degrees East, ASTRA transmits in analog and digital more than 1,030 different television and radio channels as well as multimedia and Internet services to an audience of close to 80 million homes in Europe.

Four additional satellites are under construction and due for launch before mid-2002. SES is also a strategic investor in the leading Asian/Pacific AsiaSat Satellite System (34.13 percent since January 1999), Scandinavian Sirius satellite operator Nordic Satellite Company NSAB (50 percent since October 2000), and Brazilian Embratel Satellite Division, operator of the Latin American Brasilsat system (19.99 percent, also since October 2000).

BSS is the world's leading manufacturer of commercial communications satellites and a major provider of space systems, satellites and payloads for national defense, science and environmental applications.

The company was formed in October 2000 when Boeing acquired the Hughes Electronics satellite manufacturing companies, which included Hughes Space and Communications Company, Hughes Electron Dynamics, Spectrolab Inc., and Hughes Electronics' 50 percent share of HRL Laboratories.

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