ARSAT, the national Argentinian telecommunications company, has awarded Communications & Power Industries (CPI) an approximately $20 million contract to provide large, Ka-band telemetry, tracking and command (TT&C) and gateway systems to support the ARSAT-SG1 satellite. CPI will provide two 13.2 meter TT&C antennas and six 6.3 meter gateway earth station antennas, each fully integrated with CPI satellite communications amplifiers, to be installed at several sites in Argentina.

ARSAT-SG1, which is planned for launch in 2025, will be ARSAT's first high-performance satellite with high-throughput satellite (HTS) technology, as well as its first satellite operating in the Ka-band frequency. It is intended to provide reliable, high-quality satellite broadband to more than 200,000 households in low-density, rural areas of Argentina, Bolivia, Chile and Paraguay, where the deployment of terrestrial communications infrastructure is insufficient to support increasing demand.

"CPI supports ARSAT's goal of providing Argentinians with equal access to telecommunications services, bridging the digital divide between rural and urban areas. To help accomplish this, we worked closely with ARSAT to ensure that we developed an integrated solution that fully met the needs of the SG1 GSKa program. This included developing new features for our 6.3-meter antenna," said Mike DiBiase, president of CPI's Antenna & Power Technologies business (formerly known as CPI Satcom & Antenna Technologies). Work on the three-year contract will be completed at CPI facilities in the United States and Canada.

"By means of a bidding process, ARSAT selected CPI to lead this very important project for ARSAT and Argentina. CPI's vast portfolio, heritage and excellent track record in commissioning Ka-band systems globally made them the clear supplier of choice. CPI demonstrated a thorough technical and commercial understanding of and compliance with the SG1 GSKa requirements for the TTC and gateway network," said Facundo Leal, chairman of the board of ARSAT.

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