The new Intelsat EpicNG platform announced this week will provide our government and commercial customers a foundation for a range of high-powered mobile solutions, including airborne, manned and unmanned ISR, comms-on-the-move and manpacks. While the expected throughput of the satellites will vary according to application and satellite, we anticipate that it will be in the range of 30-60 Gbps - more than four times faster than traditional satellite communication speeds.

Intelsat EpicNG represents the progressive, high-performance evolution of our network infrastructure, combining the technical advantages of spot-beam technology with the benefit of Intelsat's premium spectral rights. And because EpicNG will use the Ku- and C-bands of the spectrum, it will fit right in with the significant investment government customers already have made in terminals using these frequency bands.

The globalization of intensive U.S. military operations has caused bandwidth requirements to soar, particularly for mobility applications. The limited availability and reliability of terrestrial networks has made satellites the foundation of critical government communications in many regions of the globe. By overlaying wide beam coverage with high-power spots beams, the EpicNG platform will offer the government user a range of options that can be customized for each mission.

The new Intelsat EpicNG series will offer the following benefits to users:

+ Wide beams and spot beams in the same band providing the combined benefits of broadcast and high throughput.

+ Multi-band frequencies aligned to region- and application-specific requirements.

+ Open architecture that is backward compatible by using existing network infrastructure and forward compatible as ground technology evolves.

+ High throughput, high efficiency, high availability enables smaller terminals, supporting new applications such as mobile broadband and aero, while also benefitting data-centric services like cellular backhaul.

EpicNG coverage is designed to address both current and expected areas of operations, including the Americas, the North Atlantic, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Oceania. Because EpicNG will cover primarily land mass areas, the platform will allow us to address incremental surge requirements from earthquakes, tsunamis and other emergency situations requiring immediate communications capacity.

Intelsat is launching its EpicNG platform on two next-generation satellites, Intelsat 29e and Intelsat 33e, with projected in-services dates in 2016. You will be hearing more about this new platform in the coming months as we begin arranging for satellite manufacture and launch.