Mr. Thomas Choi, Chief Executive Officer of ABS said, “We are absolutely delighted with the appointment of Scott Sprague as our Chief Operating Officer. From its entrepreneurial beginnings, ABS has grown to become one of the fastest growing satellite operators in the world. With the upcoming launch of ABS-2 in early 2013 as well as anticipated further expansion of our fleet, we sought out a world-class executive to bolster our executive management team for the next evolutionary phase of our growth. Scott Sprague who just recently resigned from SES brings a myriad of experiences to our organization and most importantly the experience of successfully running a sales organization of a global satellite operator. Aside from serving as a member of the Executive Management Team, Scott will be principally responsible for managing the global sales and service operations of ABS. It is my sincere belief that we could not have found a better candidate for this role and we are looking forward to working with him to better serve the needs of our ever expanding list of customers.”

Prior to joining ABS, Scott Sprague was Senior Vice President, Global Sales for SES. During his tenure at SES, he was responsible for global revenue, led a sales team and built a portfolio of businesses for media, enterprises and customers around the globe.
Mr. Sprague held various senior management positions including: Vice President of Enterprise Sales from KPNQwest, Vice President of Channel Management for Infonet Service Corporation and General Manager for AT&T. He oversaw functional activities, sales and revenues.
“I am very excited to be joining the ABS senior leadership team. My passion is working with customer-centric organizations. Clearly ABS has established itself as one of the most creative and flexible satellite service providers in the industry. I look forward to leveraging my global experience with the entrepreneurial spirit of ABS. I firmly believe that by expanding the ABS ‘customer first’ philosophy on a worldwide basis we can drive shareholder value. The regions that the ABS fleet currently covers and their stated expansion plan centers on the high growth markets of the world. I am very familiar with the dynamics of these markets and feel confident that we can provide best in class support to our customers any where they do business,” commented Scott Sprague.

Mr. Sprague earned an MBA in International Business from Western International University and a BS degree in Business Administration from Illinois State University.

ABS-2 is currently under construction and will have 89 active C, Ku and Ka-band transponders across 10 different beams with a design life of 15 years. It will be located at ABS’ prime orbital location of 75E. ABS-2 is specifically designed for a wide range of services including DTH, Cable TV distribution, VSAT services, Data networks and Telecommunications services. ABS-2 will provide expansion capacity to existing ABS-1 customers.

“We are extremely excited for the success that GTSS has been able to achieve with its ABS satellite platform businesses, including Raduga TV DTH. Our mission has always been to provide exceptional support to our customers, enabling their businesses to succeed,” said Richard Pak, Chief Development Officer. “This new agreement for additional capacity on ABS-2 is a perfect example of why the success of our company is directly tied to the success of our partners, and further confirmation of our close long-term relationship with GTSS.”

“Our successful cooperation with Asia Broadcast Satellite (ABS) for over 5 years, the firm’s impressive growth and clear development policy has created a solid ground for our strategic decision to go for a condo-sat solution on ABS-2. We believe that the premium quality of ABS-based services will provide the most favorable conditions for our present and future clients in Russia and the CIS countries,” said Anatoly Zyablitskiy, Director of GTSS in charge of Strategic Development.

About Asia Broadcast Satellite

Asia Broadcast Satellite (ABS) is one of the fastest growing premium satellite operators in the world. ABS offers a complete range of End-to-End solutions including Direct to Home (DTH) and Cable TV distribution (CATV), Cellular Backhaul, VSAT and Internet Backbone services with diverse IP transit through its European and Asian internet gateways. ABS currently host over 175 TV channels making it as one of the fastest growing and top satellite distribution platforms and broadcaster of TV channels in the Asia Pacific.

ABS has grown from a single satellite operator to operating four satellites in orbit (ABS-1, ABS-1A, ABS-3, ABS-7) and its fifth satellite (ABS-2) currently under construction.

ABS-3 at 3W, scheduled for operations in December 2011 will provide affordable high powered C and Ku-band satellite coverage over the Sub-Saharan African region to serve Africa’s growing communications requirements.

The ABS-2 satellite (scheduled 2013) will be located in geostationary orbit at 75 degrees East. Fitted with 89 active C, Ku, and Ka-band transponders, it will provide optimized direct TV broadcast, multimedia applications, telecommunications and data transmission services for Asia Pacific, Russia/CIS, Africa and the Middle East.
The ABS satellite fleet covers four-fifths of the world’s population across Asia Pacific, Africa, E. Europe, the Middle East, CIS and Russia.

For more information, please visit the Company’s website at www.absatellite.net

About GTSS

GT Satellite Systems (GTSS) is a Luxembourg-based operator of C and Ku-band transponders on six communications satellites covering all Europe and most of Asia, including Russia and the CIS. Among them there are Ku-band transponders on the ABS-1 Northern Beam and a Ku-band transponder on the Southern Beam, at the 75° EL orbit location, C-band transponders on Express satellites at 53° EL, 96,5°EL and 140°EL. Additional Ku-band transponders will be available for GTSS on ABS-2 satellite. GTSS provides Fixed Satellite Services as well as Media Services to national and international customers throughout Russia and the CIS.

GTSS’s Russian based subsidiaries manage a state-of-the-art teleport in Moscow directly linked via optical infrastructure to the main access nodes. GTSS’s subsidiaries run teleports located across the Russian territory. Their services include ultimate solutions for television and radio broadcasting companies, users of trunk communication channels and broadband Internet. The main teleport in Moscow offers play-out services for TV channels, post-production, encryption and other services.

For more information, please visit the Company’s website at www.gtssgroup.com.

Greater Operational Efficiency Will Support ABS’s Expansion and Transition from a Regional to Global Operator

Optimal Satcom has been awarded a multi-year contract by Asia Broadcast Satellite (ABS) to provide its industry leading, enterprise satellite capacity system to help manage ABS’ growing commercial satellite business.

Under the terms of the agreement, Optimal Satcom will provide ABS with a comprehensive system including the Enterprise Capacity Manager™ (ECM®) software system integrated with COMPLAN®. The highly-engineered capacity management tool, useful in all phases of SATCOM network design and optimization, will include several networked servers and replicated databases installed at several ABS offices around the world. The system will allow ABS personnel to simultaneously manage their expanding satellite business from any ABS office while ensuring high performance and redundancy.

Optimal Satcom will also support the migration of ABS’s legacy systems and databases to its new, comprehensive system, the development of interfaces with ABS’s other operational systems, and post-deployment support services. The new system is planned for operations in the last quarter of 2011.

“Optimal Satcom is pleased to be working closely with Asia Broadcast Satellite as it positions itself for growth,” said Ahsun H. Murad, President and CEO of Optimal Satcom. “ECM brings together all the major functions related to capacity management into a single system, and will allow ABS to achieve increased operational efficiency in the highly competitive commercial satellite market.” he added.

Tom Choi, CEO of Asia Broadcast Satellite said: “We are delighted to be using Optimal Satcom’s ECM system. With the dramatic growth of our satellite fleet and the addition of multiple satellites being added over the next 2-3 years, it was critical for ABS to implement a robust capacity management system that could help us manage the operations for our growing satellite business. The ECM system will integrate all aspects of satellite capacity management into a single centralized system and optimize the operational efficiency, flexibility and reliability of our workflow.”

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Optimal Satcom is the leading provider of enterprise systems and services for satellite capacity management helping satellite operators and service providers achieve significant cost savings with the ECM’s integrated satellite capacity planning and management functions, and COMPLAN’s network analysis and optimization services. Optimal Satcom’s ECM-COMPLAN system is a high-performance, low-risk solution with an established track record and is currently in use by satellite operators and major satellite service providers to manage capacity on over 100 satellites belonging to more than 30 different satellite operators.

Asia Broadcast Satellite (ABS) is one of the fastest growing premium satellite operators in the world. ABS offers a complete range of End-to-End solutions including Direct-to-Home (DTH) and Cable TV distribution (CATV), Cellular Backhaul, VSAT and Internet Backbone services with diverse IP transit through its European and Asian internet gateways. ABS’s satellite fleet includes four operational satellites with a fifth satellite (ABS-2) under construction and expected to be launched in 2013, providing coverage over Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Europe and CIS countries.

ABS is providing an integrated broadcast solution to VIMN including turn-around, encryption, multiplexing, uplink and broadcast from Europe to Asia. MTVN HD will be VIMN’s first all High Definition channel launched in Asia, and will be transmitted in 1080i format for optimal quality. NICK JR. will be in 576i SD format, and both channels will be broadcast via the B Beam of the ABS-1 satellite at its prime location of 75°E.

NICK JR., is one of the world’s leading multi-platform entertainment brands for children and parents. Nick JR. features programming dedicated to stimulate, educate and excite young inquisitive minds with innovative and award winning shows such as Dora The Explorer, Go, Diego, Go!, Little Bill, Ni Hao, Kai-Lan, Blue’s Clues and the Wonder Pets!. Nick JR. engages with children through connected learning and the “play to learn” philosophy.

MTVNHD, a brand new High Definition premium music channel, is the home of the very best that music can offer. It delivers the highest quality HD content from live music, music videos, music documentaries and original productions of bands and artists and cutting edge reality programs. MTVNHD programs include MTVNHD Live Vibrations, 360 sessions and Music Alphabet and more.

“This partnership with ABS enables us to support the growing demand for our new channels, NICK Jr. and MTVNHD, to important markets in the Asia region. This is in line with our on-going strategy to extend the coverage of NICK Jr. and MTVNHD on a global scale,” said Tan Sher Li, Vice President and Head of Technology Viacom International Media Networks North and Southeast Asia. “

“ABS is very excited to collaborate with VIMN on this multi-year deal, launching its global channels in Asia using our ABS-1 HD video distribution platform, and we look forward to more future cooperation.” said Tom Choi, CEO of Asia Broadcast Satellite. “Our strong value proposition and excellent coverage make ABS an ideal fit for HD and SD channel operators of all sizes.”

The financing will be used to fully fund the capital expenditure program for ABS-2, a state-of-the-art high powered satellite to be launched at 75°E in 2013, as well as to provide funds for future strategic initiatives and acquisitions.

Founded in 2006 by CEO Thomas Choi, ABS is one of the fastest growing fixed satellite services operators in the world. It supplies bandwidth connectivity to broadcasting and telecom customers, serving over 80 customers in around 30 countries. ABS’ prime orbital locations cover 80% of the world’s population, targeting high growth markets in Asia, Russia, Africa and the Middle East. It currently has five satellites in the fleet and ABS-2 satellite in the pipeline.

Thomas Choi, Founder and CEO of Asia Broadcast Satellite, said:
“The financing has been completed at a highly attractive structure and terms for ABS. It is a strong endorsement of both the current performance and growth potential at ABS. The banks involved represent a strong mix of global, European and regional banks with significant satellite experience, providing an excellent match with ABS’ global footprint. This injection of capital will also enable ABS to further strengthen its service offering to existing and new clients.”

Richard Sanders, Partner and Head of TMT at Permira and Director on the ABS board, added:
“Since the Permira funds invested in ABS in November 2010, we have worked with Tom Choi and his team to bring together this financing. The financing was completed at an extremely favorable single digit interest cost and is a resounding endorsement of the group’s future growth strategy.”

Crescent Communications is one of the leading satellite service integrators in the Middle East offering innovative services to support new platforms for the telecommunications & broadcast sector.

Located at 116°E, the ABS-7 satellite provides FSS Ku-band, BSS Ku-band and Ka-band capacity for broadcast services, cellular backhaul, VSAT services, satellite broadband and US/NATO government requirements in the Middle East and Pakistan regions.

Mr. Nadeem Yunus, CEO of both Crescent Communications and Quantum Global Communications Inc said: “We are thrilled to partner with ABS to take capacity on ABS-7 satellite to support our broadcast and IP-based satellite services in Pakistan, Afghanistan and the Middle East. This additional capacity will further increase our penetration into these key markets giving us the opportunity to enhance our services in this fast growing multi-media world.”

“We are pleased to work with Crescent Communications to support their growing demand for connectivity in the emerging markets. The high powered Ku-band beams on ABS-7 are ideal for broadcast and communication solutions covering the Middle East, Pakistan and Afghanistan,” commented Tom Choi, CEO of ABS.

Mr. Adnan Siddiqui, Technical Director of Crescent Communications, added: “ABS-7 high powered beams are perfect for our IP-based services particularly for remote internet and telecom services via our VSAT platforms. It is also excellent for DTH (Direct-to-Home) and CATV video distribution.”

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About Asia Broadcast Satellite

Asia Broadcast Satellite (ABS) is one of the fastest growing premium satellite operators in the world. ABS serves a global customer base with representatives in Asia, the Middle East, Europe and North America. ABS offers a complete range of End-to-End solutions including Direct to Home (DTH) and Cable TV distribution (CATV), Cellular Backhaul, VSAT and Internet Backbone services with diverse IP transit through its European and Asian internet gateways. ABS currently hosts over 175 TV channels making it as one of the fastest growing and top satellite distribution platforms and broadcaster of TV channels in the Asia Pacific.

ABS is rapidly expanding its satellite fleet and business worldwide through the recent acquisitions of ABS- 7 (formerly Koreasat-3), ABS-1A (formerly Koreasat-2) and ABS-5 (formerly Agila-2). ABS has also completed a strategic cooperation with Eutelsat for the ABS-1B/W75 satellite at 75°E. ABS is planning the launch of a new state-of-the-art high powered satellite, ABS-2, that is scheduled to become operational in 2013. ABS-2 will be located at the 75° East Longitude, ABS’ prime orbital location covering four-fifths of the world’s population across the Indian Ocean region.

ABS is committed to maintaining its aggressive growth through the announcement of more strategic partnerships, acquisitions and further additions to its satellite fleet of ABS-1, ABS-1A, ABS-1B, ABS-2, ABS-5 and ABS-7.
For more information, please visit the Company’s website at www.absatellite.net

About Crescent Communications

Steelman Electro Mechanical Company LLC was established in 1989 in Dubai having its core competence in almost every field of engineering (electrical, mechanical, civil, telecommunications, instrumentation & control systems etc). By the establishment of Crescent Communications under Steelman Electro Mechanical’s umbrella, it is providing the same level of satisfaction to the telecommunication sector. With its aim of continuous growth in the Telecom field introducing new platforms, Crescent Communications is a joint venture aiming for success.

ABS communications contact:
Penny Hill
Tel: +65 8189 8835
Email: penny@absatellite.net

ABS marketing contact (Middle East)
Marie Palaroan
Tel: +97150 8858903
Email: marie@absatellite.net

Crescent Communications contacts:
Mr. Zulfiqar Ursani (Pakistan)
Tel : +923338200777
Email: ursani@redtone.com.pk

Mr. Adnan Siddiqui (Middle East)
Tel: +97156 1058328
Email: asiddiqui@crescentae.com