The satellite will offer fixed satellite communications services in North America through a total of 56 transponders in C and Ku-bands, and includes a navigation payload.

Anik F1R will be positioned at the 107.3 degrees West location in geostationary orbit to provide broadcasters, governments, corporations, and small businesses with telecommunications services over a large zone covering Canada and the continental US. It is equipped with 24 active transponders operating in C-band and 32 active transponders in Ku-band.

The satellite also includes a navigation payload operating in C-band for uplink and L-band for downlink. This navigation payload will provide a significant enhancement to the available tools in North America for providing precision guidance to aircraft.

The spacecraft will have a launch mass of 4.5 tonnes, a solar array span of 36 metres once deployed in orbit, and a spacecraft power of more than 10 kW at the end of its 15-year mission lifetime.

EADS Astrium, as prime contractor, has designed and built the spacecraft and supplied both the payloads and the platform. Canadian companies EMS Technologies and COM DEV have supplied a significant part of the spacecraft equipment and technology.

Anik F1R is based on the E3000 version of the highly successful Eurostar communications satellite family that has been ordered by most of the world's major satellite operators. Thirty-nine Eurostar spacecraft have been ordered to date, of which twenty-seven have already been launched and have proven highly reliable in operational service. This is the first of two Anik spacecraft built by EADS Astrium for Telesat.

Antoine Bouvier, CEO of EADS Astrium said: "Telesat is a leading operator recognized worldwide for its technical expertise, and we thank them for the confidence it has placed in us and the Eurostar spacecraft for its most recent procurements. We are delighted with the excellent teamwork developed with the Telesat residents monitoring the progress of the project at EADS Astrium facilities."

Larry Boisvert, Telesat's president and CEO, stated: "When Telesat works with a manufacturer, we seek the same qualities our customers demand from us: quality, flexibility, innovation, reliability and timeliness. That's what EADS Astrium has delivered on Anik F1R, and Telesat looks forward to a similar success next year on Anik F3."

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