KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 18): MEASAT Global Bhd confirmed that aircraft manufacturer Airbus S.A.S. is building the MEASAT-3d satellite for MEASAT Global for about RM1.2 billion to replace the existing MEASAT-3 satellite, which will be retired after an anomaly on June 21, 2021.

"MEASAT-3d (will be) built by Airbus for RM1.2 billion," MEASAT Global corporate communications manager Shawna Felicia said in an emailed statement to theedgemarkets.com today.

Shawna's statement today followed MEASAT Global's Aug 6, 2021 statement that the company would retire its MEASAT-3 satellite after the June 21, 2021 anomaly, resulting in a complete outage of service and that the matter was still under investigation in partnership with MEASAT Global's MEASAT-3 satellite provider Boeing Satellite Systems (BSS).

Despite maintaining continuous telemetry and command control of MEASAT-3, further testing and recovery efforts found that the satellite could not re-enter service, according to MEASAT Global.

"The satellite will be de-orbited in the following weeks. MEASAT-3, a Boeing 601 satellite, had provided satellite communication services for almost 15 years since its launch in December 2006. The spacecraft, manufactured by BSS, was equipped with C-band and Ku-band transponders that cover over 100 countries across Asia, Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

"MEASAT (Global) is currently finalising the launch date of MEASAT-3d for early 2022, which is expected to restore its unrivalled in-orbit satellite redundancy at the company's key orbital hotslot 91.5°E, providing direct-to-home (DTH), broadcasting and telecommunications services for the region, besides significantly enhancing broadband speed of up to 100 Mbps in areas with limited or without any terrestrial connectivity throughout Malaysia.

"Announcements on the MEASAT-3d launch will be released in due course," MEASAT Global said.