Satlynx has announced a milestone agreement for the purchase of a significant volume of capacity on the Arabsat-5A satellite available for commercial service early in 2010.

The satellite will deliver much needed capacity over the entire Africa and Middle East (MEA) regions, as well as most of Central Asia.

This action aims to strengthen Satlynx's market position over these key regions, as an ongoing realisation of a long-term strategy to grow through geographical expansion.

Through deployment of seamless end-to-end solutions based on satellite communications technologies including SCPC, iDirect and DVB-based technologies, Satlynx will enable and support its customers in delivering connectivity to hard-to-reach locations for both short and long term implementations where a satellite-based network is often the only reliable choice.

Ronny Svang, President and CEO of Satlynx said, "Despite the economic environment there is a great deal of inertia in the markets we serve and demand continues apace. It is crucial now more than ever that, as a major international value-added satellite services provider, and as part of the GE group, we secure critical space segment inventory that will enable us to execute on our aggressive geographic expansion growth strategy."

He concluded "After an initial deployment of networks on Arabsat's BADR-6 and BADR-4 throughout the Middle-East and North Africa (MENA) region, we are now comfortable enough to make a solid commitment in expanding our capability over the whole of Africa with Arabsat-5A to enhance our multiregional connectivity".

Khalid Balkheyour, President and CEO of Arabsat, declared "We are very pleased to continue to build a strong relationship with a serious and reputable service provider like General Electric's Satlynx.

Their trust in our forthcoming pan-African Arabsat-5A satellite, soon-to-be the best available option on the market, will guarantee reliable service delivery capability for their customers over the entire African continent."

Satlynx is already actively working with customers today to scope, design and begin the build phase of projects across the MEA region in advance of the launch of the satellite.