Nilesat

Nilesat (English /ˈnaɪlˌsæt/; Egyptian Arabic: [ˈnɑj(e)l ˈsæːt], نايلسات or نايل سات) is an Egyptian company, and the name of a series of Egyptian communications satellites. It was established in 1998 with the purpose of operating Egyptian satellites and their associated ground control station and uplinking facilities. The company is owned by the Egyptian Radio & Television Union with a 40 per cent share, the Arab Organization for Industrialization with a 10 per cent share, the Egyptian Company for Investment Projects with a 9 per cent share and the rest is owned by the general public, Egyptian financial institutions and other investors. The company has two ground stations, a primary one in 6th of October City and a secondary ground station in Alexandria. The two ground stations were built by EADS Astrium. Nilesat operates multiple geosynchronous communications satellites all of which are stationed at 7 degrees West. Nilesat includes as of 18 January 2008 415 video channels, 300 of which are free-to-air.

Nilesat 201

Nilesat 201, is an Egyptian communications satellite, which was launched on 4 August 2010.

Nilesat 201 will enable the Egyptian satellite operator Nilesat to deliver digital Direct to Home (DTH) TV and radio broadcasting and high-speed data transmission services to North Africa and the Middle East starting in September 2010. It was built by Thales Alenia Space in the Cannes Mandelieu Space Center, and is based on the Spacebus 4000B2 satellite bus. It will be operated in geosynchronous orbit, at a longitude of 7° West. The spacecraft has a design life of 15 years and a mass at launch of 3.2 tonnes. It is powered by solar arrays which will generate 5.9 kilowatts of electricity at the end of the spacecraft's design life. It will carry 40 transponders, of which 24 will be K_u band for broadcasting, and 4 will be K_a band. Nilesat 201 was launched by an Ariane 5ECA rocket at 20:59 UTC on 4 August 2010.

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Eutelsat 16B

Eutelsat 16B, formerly known as Hot Bird 4, Atlantic Bird 4, Nilesat 103 and Eurobird 16, is a communications satellite owned and operated by Eutelsat. The satellite is currently operational at 16° East.

Launched in 1998 as Hot Bird 2, under Eutelsat's Hot Bird brand, the satellite was positioned in geostationary orbit at a longitude of 13 degrees east, colocated with the rest of the Hot Bird constellation. Following the launches of Hot Bird 7A and Hot Bird 8 in 2006, the satellite was moved to 7 degrees west under the Atlantic Bird brand, and renamed Atlantic Bird 4. During this time, some of the satellite's capacity was leased to Egyptian operator Nilesat, who marketed the satellite as Nilesat 103.

Nilesat used the satellite, alongside Nilesat 101 and Nilesat 102 which were located in the same orbital slot, to provide direct-to-home digital TV channels, data transmission, turbo internet and multicasting applications to more than 15 million viewers in the North African and Middle East region.