Al-Kuwari hails the successful launch of Eshail 1

CEO of EshailSat, Ali Ahmed Al-Kuwari has expressed immense proud for witnessing here in Kourou the birth of a new star over Qatar with the successful launch of our Eshail 1 satellite. Commenting from Kourou in French Guiana, Al-Kuwari said \" the EshailSat programme plays an important strategic role as Qatar works to meet the rapidly growing communications needs in the region. With the arrival of Eshail 1, we have completed the first step in our mission to become a centre of excellence in the region and develop a sustainable national satellite industry. \"Qatar’s first satellite will provide our strategic stakeholders and commercial customers with broadcasting independence, quality service and wide geographical coverage. We congratulate Arianespace on delivering a picture-perfect lift-off and look forward to working with Eutelsats operations team to bring Eshail 1 into service,\" he concluded. For her side, Michel de Rosen, Eutelsat CEO, said: \"Tonights launch is a milestone marking a three-year journey since Eutelsat sealed a strategic alliance with EshailSat, our Qatari partner, to pursue a ground-breaking joint satellite programme. We are now entering a new phase with the beginning of shared operations of a sophisticated and flexible communications satellite designed to deliver over 15 years of service to our two companies. Our thanks go to Arianespace, with whom Eutelsat has built a solid relationship over 30 years, for executing a flawless launch. We look forward to serving customers with the first-class resources this new satellite will provide and to further anchoring our commitment to markets in the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia.\" Based on the SSL 1300 platform of Space Systems/Loral, EUTELSAT 25B/Eshail 1 is designed to serve broadcasters, businesses and public agencies in the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia via capacity in the Ku and Ka-bands. It will replace the EUTELSAT 25C satellite at the key 25.5  East position to provide both superior geographic coverage and increased capacity to address dynamically expanding digital markets. Following EUTELSAT 25B/Eshail 1\'s entry into service Eutelsat will redeploy its EUTELSAT 25C to another location where it will pursue commercial service.