The SES-6 satellite replaces the aging NSS-806 (launched on 28 February 1998 as Intelsat 806). It is nearly twice as large as NSS-806, with two C-band beams and has a total of five steerable Ku-band beams, including four beams for the Americas and one beam covering the Atlantic Ocean region.[3] The C-band beams cover the East Atlantic (Europe, North Africa) and West Atlantic (United States, Mexico, South America). The Ku-band beams cover East Atlantic (Europe, Iceland, Greenland), West Atlantic (Eastern United States, Eastern Canada) and Brazil.[4]
SES-6 provides the cable community with 50% more C-band capacity than NSS-806, while retaining the unique ability to transport content across the Americas and Europe on the same high powered beam. In addition, SES-6 offers a substantial upgrade to Ku-band capacity in the region with dedicated high power beams over Brazil, South cone, the Andean region, North America, Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean, while also offering an innovative payload to support mobile maritime and aeronautical services on the highly demanded routes from North America, the Gulf of Mexico, across the North Atlantic and to Europe.[3]
Following the launch, SES announced a long-term capacity agreement to provide a new direct-to-home (DTH) platform in Brazil with Brazilian telecommunication group Oi, which would become the largest user of the new satellite.[2]
Launches are separated by dots ( • ), payloads by commas ( , ), multiple names for the same satellite by slashes ( / ). Crewed flights are underlined. Launch failures are marked with the † sign. Payloads deployed from other spacecraft are (enclosed in parentheses).