XTAR, LLC, the first U.S. commercial provider of services in the X-band frequency, has been awarded a bandwidth contract from Intelsat General Corporation. The multi-million dollar contract calls for XTAR to provide Intelsat General with 79.5 MHz of high power X-band services from its XTAR-EUR satellite which sits over the Middle East and Europe.

The capacity will be employed in support of critical, time-sensitive data and communications between Afghanistan and Europe.

The contract continues the relationship between XTAR and Intelsat General, enabling them to provide high-power, commercially available X-band capacity to under-served users.

It is a renewal of the first Intelsat General contract which XTAR was awarded in 2010. The two companies may expand this contract in the next 12 months through two possible options for another 79.5 MHz.

Philip Harlow, XTAR president and COO, claimed, "This contract exemplifies the on-going requirements from U.S. and Allied governments that commercially available X-band services can help fulfill, specifically for high-capacity bandwidth to support communications for locations with intense demand."

Harlow added: "As governments continue to look for ways to meet their communications needs, they will turn to commercial providers for satellite bandwidth, and increasingly rely on X-band based on their interoperability with military satellite resources.

"The X-band frequency is designated uniquely for government use and is therefore readily available to government customers with no need to change user equipment from that normally used for WGS satellite operation."

XTAR-EUR, located at 29O E, entered service in April 2005. It carries twelve 100W wideband X-band transponders in both right- and left-hand circular polarization. This extremely flexible payload makes it ideal for X-band services from Eastern Brazil and the Atlantic Ocean, across Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and South East Asia.

The satellite covers a large geographic area with its two global beams, one fixed and four steerable beams that can be repointed within the satellite's coverage area. This flexibility, combined with coverage of Africa and North- and South America by XTAR's second payload, XTAR-LANT, adds tremendous capabilities for government and military users across most of the globe.

As the first commercial provider of services in the X-band frequency, XTAR is exclusively dedicated to serving the long-haul communications needs of U.S. and Allied military and government organizations. Its two owned and operated payloads provide 4 GB of X-band capacity from Denver east to Singapore.