KOUROU, French Guiana: Malaysia is now closer to reaching 100 per cent connectivity as outlined in the government's Jendela initiative by 2025 with the successful launch of Measat-3d satellite today.
Launched on Ariane 5 at 6.50pm here on Wednesday (5.50am Kuala Lumpur, Thursday), the newest Measat Global Bhd's RM1.2 billion satellite was launched about 20 minutes off scheduled due to additional thorough checks before the launch gets the green light.
Also present was Ministry of Communications and Multimedia secretary general Datuk Seri Mohammad Mentek.
Mohammad said the improved coverage would help the nation achieve the government's goal of closing the digital connectivity gap between Malaysians in rural and urban areas, as laid out in the Jalinan Digital Negara (Jendela) plan.
"With stable high-speed internet access available across the country, all Malaysians will be able to access socioeconomic benefits powered by the internet, including participating in e-commerce and Intternet-based learning, leaving no-one behind in the digital age," he said after the launching ceremony here today.
In conjunction with the launch in Kourou, Measat held a live broadcast viewing session at the World Trade Centre in Kuala Lumpur.
The event was witnessed by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob and Communications and Multimedia Minister Tan Sri Annuar Musa.
Ismail Sabri said the launch of the satellite would also improve internet penetration rates in suburban and rural areas across Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak.
Ismail Sabri had earlier joined 600 other guests to watch the live streaming of the launching of Measat-3d into orbit at the Dewan Merdeka, World Trade Centre here.
It was also attended by other government officials, Measat's business partners and industry stakeholders.
Measat chief operating officer Yau Chyong Lim said Measat-3d would also play an important role in supporting the company's sister companies including Maxis Bhd and Astro Malaysia Holdings Bhd.
"The new satellite will strengthen efforts by Maxis to leverage mobile, fibre, WiFi and satellite communications capabilities to offer a better network experience, even for customers in highly remote locations.
"In addition, with the restoration of unrivalled in-orbit redundancy via Measat-3d, Astro will be able to strengthen its expansion capacity, enabling the next wave of 4K and eventually 8K content to every home in Malaysia," he added.
The Measat-3d was launched together with Indian GSAT-24.
Both satellites were placed on the Ariane 5 and was carried into the geostationary transfer orbit.
The Airbus-built satellite will significantly enhance broadband speeds of up to 100 megabits per second (Mbps) from the current 30 Mbps in areas with limited or no terrestrial connectivity throughout Malaysia.
Measat-3d is the 57th E3000 satellite built by Airbus and were positioned at the 91.5°E orbital slot and collocated with Measat-3b, also built by Airbus.
Planned for more than 19 years of operation, Measat-3d is designed to have electrical power of 12 kilowatts (kW) at end of life.
Over the next few days, the Measat-3d satellite will be raised from a geo-transfer orbit into a geostationary orbit at Measat's key 91.5°E video neighbourhood.
The satellite will then undergo testing for about one month, prior to being brought into commercial operations.