Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : CDRD (CD Radio) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: John Gault who wrote (800)	3/19/1999 8:40:00 AM
From: Jeff Vayda	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 904

WorldSpace System Exceeds Expectations During Service Evaluations Across Africa 11:24 a.m. Mar 18, 1999 Eastern WASHINGTON, March 18 /PRNewswire/ -- WorldSpace's revolutionary digital satellite radio system has met -- and exceeded -- performance expectations during actual field testing in Africa that used production receivers and music broadcast by the first WorldSpace satellite. WorldSpace programming from its AfriStar spacecraft was heard with clear, digital sound quality on portable receivers in Cairo, Nairobi, Johannesburg, and as far north as Europe. Testing was performed in typical operating conditions, as well as in congested urban areas, inside homes and buildings, and even in moving vehicles. These results demonstrated that WorldSpace is able to meet its promise of providing high-quality international news, information and entertainment programs directly to portable receivers in the emerging and underserved markets of the world. "This is a truly historic moment in the history of radio and broadcasting," said Noah Samara, Chairman and CEO of WorldSpace Corporation. "The world indeed changed when the streets of Africa came alive with music received directly from our satellite." Samara said WorldSpace remains on schedule to inaugurate commercial service to Africa and the Middle East during 1999 using the AfriStar satellite, which was launched last November. WorldSpace service will expand to Asia and Latin America following the orbiting of two other satellites this year. WorldSpace's portable L-band digital receivers will be produced by Hitachi, JVC, Matsushita (Panasonic) and Sanyo and marketed throughout the service area -- which has an audience potential of 4.6 billion people. The successful African system tests were performed in January by teams of WorldSpace representatives, who were accompanied by personnel from the receiver manufacturers and from WorldSpace system prime contractor Alcatel Space Industries. "These evaluations were a true end-to-end test of the entire WorldSpace broadcast system, and they were a total success," D.K. Sachdev, WorldSpace Senior Vice President - Engineering and Operations, said. "We determined that the AfriStar satellite's broadcast power exceeds the design specifications. In addition, the receivers demonstrated excellent performance while requiring less power than expected." Music was uplinked to the satellite from ground stations in Johannesburg, London and Toulouse -- representing the typical multiple programming feeds that will come from WorldSpace system broadcasters during commercial service. Evaluations were made in the full sound quality range offered by WorldSpace, from the 16-kilobit/second Prime Rate Channel (with quality equivalent to a monophonic AM broadcast) to the 128-kbps. high data rate channel (providing program quality comparable to CD stereo). WorldSpace receivers also were operated near known sources of potential interference, such as transmission towers for radio, microwave, cellular telephone service and terrestrial transmitters. The receivers performed well in these conditions, and in cases where interference did occur, filters were used successfully to allow WorldSpace programming to be heard. WorldSpace system signals also were received outside the nominal coverage areas in Toulouse, France and Erlangen, Germany, two centers of technical support for WorldSpace. This demonstrated the AfriStar reception area extends beyond its basic coverage area of Africa and the Middle East. Following the successful field validation of the overall system, WorldSpace is now getting ready for the marketing phase of field testing in late March 1999. Both the London and Johannesburg uplink stations will broadcast several live broadcasts to receivers throughout Africa. This phase of testing will give greater emphasis on the demonstration of the end-to-end functionalities of the receivers as well as that of the uplink stations. In particular, this second phase of testing will demonstrate several unique features of the WorldSpace transmission format. Headquartered in Washington, DC, the WorldSpace business was founded in 1990 to provide direct satellite delivery of digital audio communications and multimedia services to the emerging and underserved markets of the world, including Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean. By the end of the decade, WorldSpace will have three satellites in orbit. The first, AfriStar, was successfully launched October 28, 1998, and will be followed by AsiaStar and AmeriStar later this year. Each satellite will have three beams with each beam capable of delivering more than 50 channels of crystal clear audio and multimedia programming directly to portable receivers. This unique global service will transmit quality information, education and entertainment programming to a service area that includes 4.8 billion people. SOURCE WorldSpace Corporation Copyright 1999, PR Newswire