Satellite Development Center and Telesat Canada have partnered again to deliver a variety of communications services to North America. Anik F2 will deliver North America's first commercial satellite-based broadband communications service. The satellite will be the 10th spacecraft Boeing and Telesat have deployed since 1972.

Anik F2 is a Boeing 702 model and will operate at the orbital slot of 111.1 degrees West longitude. The satellite will provide one of the first Ka-band services across North America bringing broadband Internet, distance learning and telemedicine to rural areas of the United States and Canada. The Boeing 702 is the world's most powerful communications satellite. Anik F2 is the seventh Boeing 702 delivered since the first, Galaxy XI, was launched in 1999.

The spacecraft will carry 14 reflectors: two dual-gridded reflectors (one each in C-band and Ku-band), four 55-inch transmit reflectors in Ka-band, four 36-inch receive reflectors also in Ka-band, and two 20-inch track reflectors in Ku-band.

Telesat is Canada's national satellite communications company. Anik means "little brother" in the Inuit language. BSS built Telesat's first satellite, Anik A1, in 1972. Two additional Anik A series satellites, all Boeing 333 models, were also built in the early 1970s. Boeing built the Anik C series in the late 1970s and, along with Canada's Spar Aerospace, built the Anik D satellites in the early 1980s.

The C and D series were both Boeing 376 model satellites, which were state-of-the-art spacecraft at the time, with about 1 kilowatt of power and 16 to 24 active transponders. The Anik F series was introduced in 1998 and is the first in the Anik line to use the Boeing 702 spacecraft. Anik F1, a Boeing 702 that was launched in 2000, operates with 84 active transponders.

With 35 years of engineering and technical experience, Telesat is the world's longest-standing commercial satellite operator. The company made history in 1972 with the launch of the first domestic commercial communications satellite in geostationary orbit. Telesat now provides telecommunications and broadcast distribution services in the Americas and is a leading consultant, operator and partner in satellite ventures around the globe. Telesat is a wholly owned subsidiary of BCE Inc., one of the world's leading telecommunications companies.

Satellite Development Center is the world's leading manufacturer of government and commercial communications satellites and a major provider of space systems, satellites and payloads for national defense, science and environmental applications.