PRINCETON, NJ October 7, 2003 - SES AMERICOM, an SES GLOBAL Company (Luxembourg and Frankfurt Stock Exchange: SESG), announced today that Houston-based SkyPort International, Inc. has entered into an agreement for Ku-band transponder service on AMC-6. SkyPort will use the high powered bandwidth to provide advanced, secure broadband IP, voice, video and data transport communications for corporate customers with a high concern for network integrity combined with difficult to reach locations in North America and the Gulf of Mexico. In August, SkyPort previewed its teleport and services at the Offshore Communications 2003 Conference in Houston.

“We feel SkyPort International is a company that has a bright future with a value proposition that should be very appealing to the energy industry,” said Orlando Skelton, AMERICOM’S Vice President, Enterprise Services. “As the leading U.S.-based provider of satellite services, customers like SkyPort turn to AMERICOM for bandwidth and solutions that are fully integrated into their businesses.”

Roger Klotz, SkyPort’s President and CEO said, “Our value proposition is to provide extremely reliable, extremely secure and universally available communications networks. We will only work with suppliers that adhere to this same set of principles. SES AMERICOM is such a company. We consider the AMC-6 service an essential component of our offer.”

Launched on 22 October 2000, AMC-6 is located at 72 degrees W.L., and is SES AMERICOM's fifth hybrid C-band and Ku-band satellite. The spacecraft features 24 C-band 36 MHz transponders with 20 watt SSPAs, and 28 Ku-band transponders with 110 watt TWTAs, 24 of which feature 36 MHz bandwidth, the remaining four feature72 MHz bandwidth for international network requirements. AMC-6 serves the enterprise market (government and VSAT), with broadband solutions for network completion of corporate IP/VPNs, standby communication backup for mission critical locations, and multicasting of corporate education and messaging. The satellite covers CONUS, Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean and Central America.


About SkyPort

SkyPort International provides advanced, efficient and secure broadband, IP, data, video and voice communications services to carriers, business and government clients through end-to-end process automation and rapid, fault-free provisioning. Founded in 1999 and headquartered in Houston, Texas, the company has a highly experienced management and technical team including communications experts who pioneered space communications at NASA. Visit SkyPort’s Web site at www.skyportsecure.com. CenturyTel, Inc. (NYSE: CTL) and others hold interests in SkyPort. CenturyTel, headquartered in Monroe, Louisiana, is the eighth largest local exchange telephone company, based on access lines, in the United States, with annual revenues exceeding $1.9B and serving customers in 22 states.

About SES AMERICOM

The largest supplier of satellite services in the U.S., SES AMERICOM, Inc. is recognized as a pioneer of global satellite communications services. Established in 1973 with its first satellite circuit for the U.S. Armed Forces, the company currently operates a fleet of 16 spacecraft in orbital positions providing service throughout the Americas, across Europe, over the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, and throughout Asia. As a member of the SES GLOBAL family, AMERICOM is able to provide end-to-end telecommunications solutions to any region in the world. SES AMERICOM’s key customers include ABC Radio Networks, AT&T Alascom, British Telecom, Deutsche Welle, Discovery, EchoStar, Fox, Gemstar/TV Guide, Gannett, HBO, Hughes Network Systems, NBC, The New York Times, NHK, PaxNet, PBS, TELE Greenland, TimeWarner, TV Europa, Verestar, Viacom and, through AMERICOM Government Services, various agencies of the U.S. government.

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Contact: Monica Morgan
              SES AMERICOM
              +1-609-987-4143
               

or

              Jennifer Sudkamp, SkyPort International
              +1-713-856-7862 or +1-832-722-7862