(1 March 2007 8:00 pm)

MUMBAI: MEASAT Satellite Systems Sdn. Bhd. announced that RigNet Pte Ltd global provider of managed communications solutions to the oil and gas industry had signed an agreement contracting capacity on the MEASAT-3 satellite for the distribution of VSAT services.

MEASAT has been supporting RigNet since 2005 with satellite capacity for the distribution of VSAT services via MEASAT-1.

Said MEASAT senior director sales and marketing Yau Chyong Lim, "We are delighted that RigNet has selected the recently launched MEASAT-3 satellite, which has been designed to be one of Asia-Pacific's premier satellites with extensive coverage over more than 100 countries, to distribute their services to their upstream oil and gas customers. MEASAT-3 has an excellent footprint that covers Asia Pacific, Middle East and parts of Africa. This increased satellite footprint size is vital to RigNet's hyper-growth in these regions".

Said RigNet Vice President for the Asia Pacific region John Troup, "RigNet is extremely pleased that MEASAT-3 was successfully launched and in service. With this new satellite, RigNet will be able to provide coverage for our customers' drilling rigs seamlessly across regions. MEASAT-3 also complements RigNet's global satellite coverage across all upstream oil and gas regions."

MEASAT-3's powerful C-Band beams will allow RigNet's host of VSAT terminals to communicate with multiple offshore locations via high-speed, reliable and secure satellite links. MEASAT-3's bandwidth will facilitate cost-effective operations and heightened efficiency in RigNet's global network.