STN offering more security for MENA broadcasts

Teleport operator STN has upgraded its offering for the MENA region with what it says is a guarantee of no weather outages and enhanced interference protection when uplinking to the Eutelsat 8 West B satellite.

Ljubljana-based STN said that zero weather-related outages are assured by using two uplink sites located over 5,000 kilometres apart.  Switching between them is done automaticalluy based on the measured signal to noise ratio and link margin values.  These are pre-configured according to the downlink levels in the region, so guaranteeing no signal disruption regardless of the weather, said the company.

Eutelsat 8 West B is equipped to mitigate interference, due to its use of frequency converters behind the satellite receive antennas.  This means that the uplink frequency can be changed without any impact on the downlink frequency.

STN says it has gone one step further to minimize the likelihood of intentional or accidental jamming by uplinking signals from two geographically diverse sites located on a different continents.

The 7/8° West orbital position, also used by Nilesat, is a principal broadcasting neighbourhood for the Middle East and Africa. STN also uplinks to Eutelsat 7 West A.  Channels broadcast from the postion reach 90% of TV homes, 95% of DTH (Direct-To-Home) homes and 73% of hotels in the region.  60% of these channels are exclusive to this video neighbourhood.

“We’re excited to be able to offer this additional level of service to our customers in the MENA region. We pride ourselves on our customer service, and by offering this geographically remote and diverse uplink facility for Eutelsat 8West B, our customers have the most secure and reliable service available for the region,” said CEO of STN, Mitja Lovsin.