to self published sources . please help improve it by removing references to unreliable sources where they are used inappropriately . december 2015 learn how and when to remove this template message this article may rely excessively on sources too closely associated with the subject potentially preventing the article from being verifiable and neutral . please help improve it by replacing them with more appropriate citations to reliable independent third party sources . december 2015 learn how and when to remove this template message this article contains content that is written like an advertisement . please help improve it by removing promotional content and inappropriate external links and by adding encyclopedic content written from a neutral point of view . december 2015 learn how and when to remove this template message ses s.a. type soci t anonyme traded as luxse sesg euronext sesg industry telecommunications founded 1985 headquarters ch teau de betzdorf betzdorf luxembourg key people romain bausch chairman karim michel sabbagh president and ceo products communications satellites and services revenue 2.015 billion 2015 1 operating income 894.6 million 2015 1 profit 544.9 million 2015 1 total assets 9.952 billion end 2014 2 total equity 3.490 billion including non controlling interests end 2014 2 number of employees 1 237 full time equivalent end 2014 2 website www.ses.com ses s.a. is a communications satellite owner and operator based in betzdorf luxembourg . the company s stock is listed on the luxembourg stock exchange and euronext paris with ticker symbol sesg and is a component of the luxx cac next 20 and euronext 100 stock market indexes . the company was founded in 1985 as soci t europ enne des satellites ses . it renamed itself ses global in 2001 reverting to ses in 2006 . ses operates a fleet of more than 50 active and occasional use geostationary communications satellites with names including amc astra ciel nss quetzsat yahsat and ses 3 4 providing broadcast tv and radio channels and satellite communication services to businesses and government agencies worldwide . 5 contents 1 business and services 1.1 video 1.2 enterprise 1.3 mobility 1.4 government 2 innovations 3 reach 4 corporate structure 5 corporate management 6 history 6.1 early years 6.2 global expansion 6.3 global operator 6.4 recent events 7 satellite fleet 8 future satellite launches 9 teleports 10 see also 11 references 12 external links business and services edit ses services are provided in the four areas of video enterprise mobility and government . 6 video edit 67 % of revenue 1 video and tv distribution is ses first and foremost activity accounting for 70 % of the business . with 53 active satellites in geostationary orbit in 37 orbital locations providing 1 502 active transponders 1 086 in use 7 ses has the world s leading video platform delivering tv and radio signals direct to homes and via cable and iptv . 2 as well as distribution ses also provides technical services to broadcasters such as content management playout encryption and interactive services in particular through the mx1 was ses platform services division . ses has been a major player in the development of the direct to home market in europe and the cable tv and dbs markets in the u.s. ses satellites transmit a variety of formats from radio to high definition tv hdtv in mpeg 2 and mpeg 4 and in europe ses has been instrumental in defining hdtv standards with the hd ready tv specification and label . in the u.s. ses provides cable feed services and hd prime the u.s. largest satellite based hd channel platform . 5 enterprise edit 15 % of revenue 1 ses provides high throughput data distribution infrastructures to meet the increasing needs for capacity in sectors such as telecommunications oil and gas banking transportation health and education . in both geostationary orbit and medium earth orbit through its investment in o3b ses offers satellite and integrated connectivity services worldwide . 2 ses supplies the ses broadband previously astra2connect satellite based broadband internet access for users in remote locations where terrestrial broadband services are not available . 8 in september 2015 after one full year of operations o3b had 40 customers across 31 countries . 7 mobility edit 3 % of revenue 1 ses is a major actor in maritime and aeronautical connectivity using the high bandwidth global coverage of the ses and o3b satellite fleets to provide media content technology and connectivity solutions to the travel industry . maritime users at sea across the globe benefit from high speed internet connectivity for web browsing voip telephone email etc. ses satellites are also used to fulfil the growing popularity of connectivity in the aeronautical industry such as on board fast broadband access and high quality in flight entertainment . 2 government edit 13 % of revenue 1 ses is active in the hosted payload market selling space on planned and under construction satellites to governments and institutions 9 to provide globally redundant and secure networks for end to end solutions in security defence and information gathering as well as for humanitarian purposes such as natural disaster response . ses has a history of providing satellite capacity to u.s. government customers for the delivery of video internet voice and data 5 with clients including the army navy air force nasa coast guard department of state and the national park service and continues to build on this relationship with new long term contracts such as the army win t network . 2 for europe ses astra 5b and ses 5 satellites incorporate european geostationary navigation overlay system egnos payloads a supplementary network to the galileo navigation system . 10 and in a unique partnership ses and the luxembourg government have jointly established luxgovsat to design commission and launch a satellite to provide mission critical secure communications for individual european governments and nato . innovations edit ses has pioneered many industry technological developments including dth transmission co location of satellites free to air broadcast neighbourhoods digital broadcasting hdtv 11 and 3dtv . 12 13 ses has also helped develop innovative reception technology such as the first home dish lnbfs universal lnbs optical fibre signal distribution and the sat ip system for receiving and distributing satellite signals over home computer networks . ses is currently pioneering the broadcast of next generation ultra high definition tv uhd and helping to establish the international technical standards for uhd broadcast and reception . ses first produced demonstration uhd broadcasts in 2012 and transmitted the first hevc standard uhd tv in 2013 . 14 a continuous ses uhd demonstration channel is broadcast to europe from ses astra 19.2 e satellite position 15 and europe s first free to air ultra hd channel launched in september 2015 broadcast via astra 19.2 e. 16 as of april 2016 ses broadcasts 23 ultra hd channels of which 15 are commercial operations . 17 ses 8 was the first geostationary satellite to be launched in 2013 by privately funded company spacex which has revolutionised the costs of satellite launches . 18 the ses 10 satellite due to be launched in october 2016 on a falcon 9 rocket will be the first spacex launch with a flight proven reused falcon first stage recovered from a previous launch . 19 the ses 12 ses 14 and ses 15 satellites due for launch in 2017 are being constructed with an electric plasma propulsion system for orbit raising and in orbit manoeuvres 20 to save weight and enable a larger communications payload to be included . ses reckons that ses 12 would weigh some 4700 kg more with a conventional chemical propulsion system . 18 reach edit ses satellites are positioned in more than 30 orbital slots around the world . 21 ses claims that its satellites can reach 99 % of the world s population 5 and as of end 2015 they carry 7 268 tv channels including 2 230 high definition tv channels . 22 the number of channels broadcast by region is as follows 23 region total tv channels hdtv channels europe 2 600 700 north america 1800 1200 latin america 780 190 africa 775 20 middle east 200 30 asia pacific 1 120 100 corporate structure edit group structure of ses numbers in brackets indicate percentage of participation 24 ses satellite service companies mx1 100 % was ses platform services ses techcom services 100 % ses government solutions 100 % hd 100 % satellite operators o3b networks 42.65 % ciel 70 % quetzsat 100 % yahlive 35 % luxgovsat 50 % corporate management edit ses is managed by the executive committee responsible for running the day to day operations as well as for preparing the decisions of the board of directors . this was put in place in may 2011 to consolidate the then subsidiary companies ses astra and ses world skies under a new streamlined management structure . 25 the ses executive committee comprises 26 karim michel sabbagh president and ceo padraig mccarthy chief financial officer martin halliwell chief technology officer ferdinand kayser chief commercial officer christophe de hauwer chief development officer in 2002 the then ceo romain bausch was awarded satellite executive of the year . 27 history edit early years edit ses was formed on the initiative and support of the luxembourg government in 1985 as soci t europ enne des satellites ses . the luxembourg state remains a major shareholder . in 1988 as europe s first private satellite operator ses launched its first satellite astra 1a to the 19.2 east orbital position . rupert murdoch s sky tv along with german broadcasters pro7 sat .1 and rtl were among astra s first major customers . 11 by 1990 astra was broadcasting to 14 million cable and dth viewers . ses was the pioneer of co location by which several satellites share the same orbital position to provide mutual backup and increase the number of channels available to a fixed receiving dish creating what became known as a satellite neighbourhood . astra s prime slot 19.2 east saw as many as eight satellites sharing the position simultaneously and helped to build up astra s reputation for reliability . 11 rapid growth in germany in what would become astra s largest european market was helped by the german government s decision to liberalize the installation of dishes in 1991 . in this time ses became the leading satellite system providing direct to home transmission and became the world s largest satellite platform for tv distribution . in 1996 after the launch of astra 1e ses pioneered digital satellite transmission with the french canal . in 1998 ses launched astra 2a for the uk market transmitting at the new orbital position 28.2 east and eventually moving all of its uk and ireland transmission capacity to this orbital slot . in the same year ses went public on the luxembourg stock exchange trading as sesg in 2005 ses would also list on the paris euronext . global expansion edit from 1999 ses began a period of ambitious global expansion beyond its european home market . geographic expansion went hand in hand with the diversification of ses services beyond just tv broadcasting to cover telecommunication services for businesses telecommunications companies and government customers as well as broadband access and technical consultancy services . in 1999 ses acquired a 34.13 % stake in hong kong based satellite operator asiasat and took a foothold in asia and the pacific region . 11 a year later ses acquired 50 % of scandinavian satellite broadcaster nordic satellite ab nsab 28 later renamed ses sirius which strengthened ses coverage in northern and eastern europe . the same year ses also took a participation of 19.99 % in brazilian satellite operator star one gaining a first presence in latin america . in 2001 ses bought 28.75 % of argentina s nahuelsat and acquired ge americom giving it a solid presence in the important north american market . this resulted in