On 9 September 2014, Arianespace announced that it had been chosen to orbit the Al Yah 3 telecommunications satellite, built by Orbital Sciences Corporation, for the operator Al Yah Satellite Communications Company (Yahsat).
Arianespace will launch the Al Yah 3 satellite into geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) in the fourth quarter of 2016, using an Ariane 5 ECA rocket from the Guiana Space Center, Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.
Al Yah 3 will be built by Orbital Sciences Corporation in Dulles, Virginia, and will weigh about 3,500 kg at launch. Operating solely in the Ka-band, Al Yah 3 will provide broadband Internet services to nearly 600 million users in Brazil and Africa. It offers a design life of 15 years.
