Al Yah 3 is expected to reach its geostationary perch in June.
Al Yah 3 was placed into an incorrect orbit after an off-course Ariane 5 launch and has yet to reach its intended orbital location.
Al Yah 3 has reached its geostationary orbital slot at 20 degrees east and is ready to start commercial service.
Al Yah 3 arrived at its orbital slot slightly earlier than YahSat had predicted after its January Ariane 5 launch sent the satellite into an off-nominal geostationary transfer orbit.
Eutelsat will begin rolling out service across 19 Sub-Saharan African countries using capacity on the all-Ka-band Al Yah 3 through internet service providers.
EchoStar’s subscriber base at the end of 2019 was up 116,000 from the year prior partly due to capacity made available in November on Yahsat’s Al Yah 3 satellite.
Yahsat’s Al Yah 3 Ka-band satellite payload is an integral part of the HughesNet service.
Yahsat operates three satellites—Al Yah 1, Al Yah 2, and Al Yah 3—that deliver television broadcasts and broadband connectivity for VSAT networks, mobile networks, and other customers.
Eutelsat will launch its African broadband service using 10 Gbps of capacity on Yahsat’s Al Yah 3 satellite.
Al Yah 3 launched in January on an Arianespace Ariane 5 rocket and provides coverage in Africa and Latin America.
Al Yah 3 is a Ka-band satellite that launched in January on an Ariane 5 rocket.
Hughes invested $100,000,000 in the joint venture with Yahsat, and Yahsat contributed $60,000,000 from an insurance claim on Al Yah 3.
The new Hughes–Yahsat joint venture will use more than 65 gigabits per second of Ka-band capacity supplied from Yahsat’s Al Yah 3 satellite and Hughes’ leased payloads on Eutelsat’s 65 West A and Telesat’s Telstar-19 Vantage satellites.
Al Yah 3 launched on 2018-01-25 on an Ariane 5 and has a mass of 3,795 kg.