Date for third O3b launch set for December 2014
Company ahead of schedule as it expands network to 12 satellites
St. Helier, Jersey, Channel Islands – O3b announces that the launch of its third group of 4 satellites from Le Centre Spatial Guyanais (CSG) at Kourou in French Guiana, has been scheduled for December 18, 2014.
The satellites will begin their journey from the Thales Alenia Space facility in Rome to the launch site in early November. Once the launch is successfully completed, the company will have 12 satellites in orbit.
Arianespace will deliver the O3b satellites into a circular orbit at an altitude of 8062 km with the latest Soyuz launch from the Guiana Space Center in French Guiana, an orbit that is 4 times closer to the earth than traditional geostationary satellites, providing O3b customers with substantial performance benefits due to lower latency or delay.
O3b Networks launched commercial service on its state-of-the-art constellation across the Pacific, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia in September this year and is already delivering more than 4 Gbps of high quality connectivity to customers across the globe.
Steve Collar, CEO of O3b Networks said:
“We are excited to be launching our third set of satellites ahead of schedule. The speed of our connections and the applications that we are able to support across our low-latency network are driving incredibly strong demand across all segments. These additional satellites will provide more capacity and drive even higher performance.”
“2014 has been a massively exciting year for O3b, the year in which we launched commercial service and started to truly deliver on the promise that we have made to our customers. Launching before the end of the year will set us up for a spectacular 2015.”
About O3b Networks Limited
O3b Networks Limited is a global satellite service provider offering a next-generation satellite network for telecommunications operators, Internet service providers, enterprise and government customers in emerging markets. The O3b system combines the global reach of satellite with the speed of a fiber‐optic network providing billions of consumers and businesses in nearly 180 countries with low‐cost, high‐speed, low latency Internet and mobile connectivity. O3b Networks’ investors include SES, Google, Liberty Global, HSBC Principal Investments, Northbridge Venture Partners, Allen & Company, Development Bank of Southern Africa, Sofina, Satya Capital and Luxempart. O3b Networks is headquartered in St. Helier, Jersey, Channel Islands.
