SES’s O3b mPOWER Now Providing Connectivity Services to Governments via NSPA’s MGS

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SES’s O3b mPOWER Now Providing Connectivity Services to Governments via NSPA’s MGS

2025-02-27 15:57 Last Updated At：16:00

LUXEMBOURG--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb 27, 2025--

Following a 2024 contract award from NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA), SES started providing Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) Global Services to Luxembourg and U.S. governments via its O3b mPOWER constellation.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250226385020/en/

Known as MEO Global Services (MGS), the contract awarded within NSPA’s Global Commercially Contracted SATCOM Support Partnership (GCC SATCOM SP) initiated by the US and Luxembourg, allows NATO Members and NATO Partners participating to the agreement to build sovereign networks, or utilise fully-managed low-latency, high-performance satellite communications service.

SES’s MEO connectivity is enabling government organisations, agencies and militaries at global missions on land, at sea and in the air to run real-time applications like HD video calls and uninterrupted simultaneous downloads of other data-intensive applications in the background reliably.

In the framework of MGS, the United States plan to install six MEO Sovereign Gateways in various locations across the globe, to ensure secure and resilient connectivity globally.

Furthermore, in January 2025, The Netherlands officially joined the GCC SATCOM SP, underscoring growing multinational collaboration.

Yuriko Backes, Luxembourg’s Minister of Defence: “Enhancing secure and resilient satellite communications for defence and allied operations remains a priority for Luxembourg. Through MGS and the framework of the GCC SATCOM Support Partnership, we are leveraging SES’s state of the art O3b mPOWER constellation to ensure high-performance satellite communication to support national requirements and put them to the benefit of NATO nations and our partners. We welcome our Ally the Netherlands joining this collaborative space endeavour.”

“The progress of the GCC SATCOM Support Partnership highlights the power of multinational cooperation in the space domain. By working together, participating nations gain access to secure, advanced satellite communications that enhance interoperability and operational flexibility. The addition of the Netherlands underscores the growing value of this partnership in strengthening NATO’s space capabilities,” said Stacy Cummings, NSPA General Manager.

U.S. Space Force Brig. Gen. Jacob Middleton, Commander of U.S. Space Forces Europe and Space Forces Africa: “Integrating directly with Allies and partners through joint endeavors, such as the GCC SATCOM Support Partnership, builds trust, facilitates information sharing, and fosters a deeper understanding of common strengths and challenges. Increasing space capabilities through multinational cooperation is important to the region’s deterrence and defense.”

Colonel Bernard Buijs, Head of Defence Space Security Centre, The Netherlands: “The best way to prevent a conflict is to keep communicating! To make this happen, the Netherlands firmly believes in the value of international cooperation, and through initiatives like the GCC SATCOM SP by NSPA, nations can come together to share expertise, leverage resources, and acquire unique capabilities that might be out of reach individually.”

SES’s CEO Adel Al-Saleh: “Low latency, guaranteed service level agreements, flexibility and security of communications underscore O3b mPOWER’s advantages as the capability of choice when it comes to serving the NATO nations. We are delighted to start delivering connectivity to the MGS founding countries, as well as to welcome new countries under the NSPA agreements.”

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About SES

SES has a bold vision to deliver amazing experiences everywhere on Earth by distributing the highest quality video content and providing seamless data connectivity services around the world. As a provider of global content and connectivity solutions, SES owns and operates a geosynchronous orbit fleet and medium earth orbit (GEO-MEO) constellation of satellites, offering a combination of global coverage and high performance services. By using its intelligent, cloud-enabled network, SES delivers high-quality connectivity solutions anywhere on land, at sea or in the air, and is a trusted partner to telecommunications companies, mobile network operators, governments, connectivity and cloud service providers, broadcasters, video platform operators and content owners around the world. The company is headquartered in Luxembourg and listed on Paris and Luxembourg stock exchanges (Ticker: SESG). Further information is available at: www.ses.com

Trump meets with Syria's insurgent-turned-leader in Saudi Arabia

2025-05-14 17:51 Last Updated At：18:00

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump met with Syria’s interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, the first such encounter between the two nations’ leaders in 25 years.

The meeting, on the sidelines of Trump's get-together with the leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council, marks a major turn of events for a Syria still adjusting to life after the over 50-year, iron-gripped rule of the Assad family.

Trump had announced the day before as he kicked off his three-nation Middle East tour in Riyadh that he would also move to lift U.S. sanctions imposed on Syria under the deposed autocrat Bashar Assad.

People across Syria cheered in the streets and set off fireworks on Tuesday night to celebrate, hopeful their nation — locked out of credit cards and global finance — might rejoin the world's economy when they need investments the most.

Wednesday's meeting was also remarkable given al-Sharaa, under the nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Golani, had ties to al-Qaida and joined insurgents battling U.S. forces in Iraq before entering the Syrian war. He was even imprisoned by U.S. troops there for several years.

And the meeting came even after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had earlier asked Trump not to lift sanctions on Syria, again underscoring a growing discontent between the White House and the Israeli government as its war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip rages on.

I am “ordering the cessation of sanctions against Syria to give them a fresh start,” Trump told the Gulf Cooperation Council after his meeting with al-Sharaa. “It gives them a chance for greatness. The sanctions were really crippling, very powerful.”

Trump said on Tuesday that he would meet al-Sharaa, who had flown in to the Saudi capital for the face-to-face.

Even before its ruinous civil war that began in 2011, Syria struggled under a tightly controlled socialist economy and under sanctions by the U.S. as a state-sponsor of terror since 1979.

The Trump-al-Sharaa meeting took place behind closed doors and reporters were not permitted to witness the engagement. The White House later said it ran for just over 30 minutes, making al-Sharaa the first Syrian leader to meet an American president since Hafez Assad met Bill Clinton in Geneva in 2000.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan joined the meeting between Trump, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and al-Sharaa via a phone call. Turkey was a main backer to al-Sharaa and his rebel faction.

“I felt very strongly that this would give them a chance,” Trump said of Syria. “It’s not going to be easy anyway, so gives them a good strong chance. And, it was my honor to do so.”

He added: “We made a speech last night and, that was the thing that got the biggest applause from the room.”

Trump cited the intervention of Saudi Prince Mohammed as key to his decision.

“We commend the decision made yesterday by President Trump to lift the sanctions on the brotherly Syrian Arab Republic, which will alleviate the suffering of the Syrian people,” he said in a speech to the GCC.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement that Trump urged al-Sharaa to diplomatically recognize Israel, “tell all foreign terrorists to leave Syria” and help the U.S. stop any resurgence of the Islamic State group.

Trump also asked for the Syrian government to “assume responsibility” for over a dozen detention centers holding some 9,000 suspected members of the Islamic State group, Leavitt added. The prisons are run by the U.S.-backed and Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces that spearheaded the military campaign against the extremists and controlled the last sliver of land they once held in March 2019.

Part of a deal reached in March between the Syrian government and the SDF, all border crossings with Iraq and Turkey, airports and oil fields in the northeast would be brought under the central government’s control by the end of the year. Trump's desire for Syria to take over the prisons also signal the potential of a full American military withdrawal from Syria.

Al-Sharaa was named interim president of Syria in January, a month after a stunning offensive by insurgent groups led by al-Sharaa’s Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, that stormed Damascus, ending the 54-year rule of the Assad family.

Many Gulf Arab leaders have rallied behind the new government in Damascus and want Trump to follow, believing it is a bulwark against Iran’s return to influence in Syria, where it had helped prop up Assad’s government during a decadelong civil war.

But longtime U.S. ally Israel has been deeply skeptical of al-Sharaa’s extremist past and cautioned against swift recognition of the new government. The request came during Netanyahu’s visit to Washington last month, according to an Israeli official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the subject.

Israel was concerned a cross-border attack similar to Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, assault, could come from Syria. Israel also fears al-Sharaa and his Islamist past could pose a threat on its northern border.

Syrians cheered the announcement by Trump that the U.S. will move to lift sanctions on the beleaguered Middle Eastern nation.

The state-run SANA news agency published video and photographs of Syrians cheering in Umayyad Square, the largest in the country’s capital, Damascus. Others honked their car horns or waved the new Syrian flag in celebration.

People whistled and cheered as fireworks lit the night sky.

A statement from Syria’s Foreign Ministry on Tuesday night called the announcement “a pivotal turning point for the Syrian people as we seek to emerge from a long and painful chapter of war.”

“The removal of these sanctions offers a vital opportunity for Syria to pursue stability, self-sufficiency and meaningful national reconstruction, led by and for the Syrian people,” the statement added.

Madhani reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Associated Press photographer Alex Brandon and writers Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Turkey; Tia Goldenberg in Tel Aviv, Israel, and Bassem Mroue in Beirut contributed to this report.