of the countdown and planned launch beginning at 5 p.m. EDT (21:00 GMT).Three consecutive launch attempts were thwarted earlier this week by a wide and frustrating range of technical and weather problems. But if the new rocket finally gets off the ground tonight, millions of people in Russia and Africa could be watching digital TV and logging onto the internet before the end of June.
"We believe that this satellite will offer a new way to introduce quality pay television and internet services to new markets," said Giuliano Berretta, director-general of EUTELSAT, a Paris-based consortium that owns the spacecraft.
"There already are great expectations in this field in both Africa and Russia."
Mounted atop the Atlas 3, the 3.5-ton satellite will be the 16th to be launched for EUTELSAT, which is the third largest satellite operator in the world.
The consortium, which plans to go public with a stock offering next year, is striving to drive up revenues by opening up markets for direct-to-home television and Internet access services in both Russia and sub-Saharan Africa.
Dubbed EUTELSAT W-4, the multimillion-dollar satellite to be launched aboard the Atlas 3 is designed to do just that.
A fixed antenna on the spacecraft will deliver digital television and internet services to the European part of the Russian Federation. The potential market: 40 million Russian households already equipped with TVs.
A spot beam from a second antenna, meanwhile, is to be aimed at an even larger market for internet services in Africa.
"The spot beam covers, in particular, Ghana and Nigeria, where there will be a great market for internet services," said Berretta, adding: "Ill remind you that Nigeria is a country with 100 million people."
If all goes well with the Atlas 3 launch Saturday, the satellite will use on-board thrusters to raise itself into a circular orbit some 22,300 miles (35, 885 kilometers) above the east coast of central Africa. Several weeks of testing then would be performed before the satellite enters service in June.
EUTELSAT, meanwhile, also is pressing ahead with plans to launch another seven telecommunications satellites over the next 24 months.
The consortiums aim: To capture a growing share of satellite television and high-speed internet business in both existing and emerging markets.
"Were not going to call ourselves 'EUTELSAT.COM,'" Berretta joked. "But with this satellite, EUTELSAT is placing itself completely in the world of the internet."
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