Hispasat

Hispasat

Company type	Sociedad Anónima
Industry	Space, communications
Founded	1989
Headquarters	Madrid, Spain
Key people	Pedro Duque, Chairperson
Products	Internet, television, radio and mobile service
Revenue	€200.3 million (2012)[1]
Number of employees	176[1]
Subsidiaries	Hispasat Brasil Hispamar Satélites Hispasat Canarias
Website	www.hispasat.com

Hispasat is the operating company for a number of Spanish communications satellites that cover the Americas, Europe and North Africa from orbital positions 30.0° West and 61.0° West.^[2] It was formed in 1989 and its activities include provision of communication services in the commercial and government sectors (corporate networks, advanced telecommunications services, telephony, videoconferencing, etc.). Hispasat's fleet of satellites broadcast more than 1250 television channels and radio stations to more than 30 million homes, as well as providing services such as broadband to mobile telephones and landlines.^[3]

The first Hispasat satellite sent into orbit was Hispasat 1A, which was launched on 11 September 1992 on board an Ariane 4 launch vehicle from the Centre Spatial Guyanais near Kourou in French Guiana. It was put into geostationary orbit at 30° West, which is the location of all their subsequent satellites serving Spain and Europe.

The Amazonas satellites (61° West) were inaugurated in 2004 with the launch of Amazonas 1, which served the American market (mainly Latin America). Amazonas 2 was launched on 1 October 2009 and Amazonas 3 on 7 February 2013^[4] replacing Amazonas 1, which was moved to a new position at 36° West in September 2013.^[5] Amazonas 4A was launched on 22 March 2014. A fifth generation of this satellite series, Amazonas 5, was launched on 11 September 2017.^[6]