PanAmSat's New PAS-1R Satellite in Position to Power Top Video, Internet and Data Customers.

Business Editors, Technology Writers

GREENWICH, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 20, 2001

Service Commencement Will Mark Retirement of PAS-1 Spacecraft

Company Also Revises Launch Schedule for PAS-10

and Galaxy IIIC Satellites

PanAmSat Corporation (Nasdaq:SPOT) today announced that the company's newest satellite, the PAS-1R Atlantic Ocean Region spacecraft, is on station and ready to begin delivering advanced video and data broadcasting services later this month.

Following a November 2000 launch and comprehensive in-orbit maneuvers, PAS-1R is now positioned in its permanent orbital slot at 45 degrees west longitude, where it will enable PanAmSat to meet its customers' needs for communications services throughout the Americas, Europe and Africa.

PAS-1R's service commencement will not only add more powerful and comprehensive coverage of the Atlantic Ocean Region, but will also signal the retirement of PAS-1, the world's first commercial international communications satellite. PanAmSat launched PAS-1 in June 1988 to become the first company to deliver commercial international satellites services, creating a competitive market that has advanced communications technologies and services throughout the world.

"PAS-1 sparked a chain reaction that has significantly altered the communications landscape, creating the commercial international satellite services industry and opening markets around the globe. It was also the catalyst for new services and technologies, such as international cable television distribution, satellite news gathering and digital video compression," said R. Douglas Kahn, PanAmSat's president and chief executive officer. "With this experience in hand, PanAmSat will take advantage of PAS-1R to continue to introduce the latest communications services and build the networks that deliver information and entertainment to the world."

PAS-1R is a Boeing 702 model spacecraft with an advanced communications payload consisting of 36 C-band and 36 Ku-band transponders, each supplying 36 MHz of bandwidth. The advanced PAS-1R satellite is capable of broadcasting billions of bits of digital video and data throughout the Americas, Europe and Africa. The spacecraft will also support PanAmSat's current and future Internet initiatives in those regions, delivering broadband U.S. Internet backbone access to rural and remote areas as well as broadcasting IP content to potentially thousands of locations simultaneously.

Some of the customers that will begin transitioning to the new spacecraft include: Impsat, Cisneros Television Group, CTC Mundo, Telefonica Data Colombia, Reuters, Zona Franca Montevideo, Suratel, Vitacom de Colombia and DIRECTV Latin America.

PAS-1R highlights:

-- More than twice the capacity of the original PAS-1 satellite, offering a
total of more than 2,500 MHz of capacity.

-- New C-band capacity for Europe and Africa, offering C-band connectivity
between Western Europe, Eastern Europe and Africa, in addition to the Americas.


-- More than three times as much power per C-band transponder than on PAS-1.

-- Three times the Ku-band capacity of PAS-1, offering Ku-band connectivity
between Europe and Africa as well as Latin America for the delivery of
high-speed data and broadband Internet services.

-- More than seven times as much power per Ku-band transponder than on PAS-1.

Concurrently, PanAmSat updated its launch schedule by announcing that the PAS-10 Indian Ocean Region satellite will be launched in the second quarter 2001 and the Galaxy IIIC spacecraft will be launched in the third quarter 2001. PanAmSat expects that the revised PAS-10 and Galaxy IIIC launch dates will not have a material impact on the company's projected 2001 financial results, primarily because the satellites are intended as replacements for existing spacecraft, which will continue to produce revenue.

Based upon information provided by the satellite manufacturer, Boeing Satellite Systems, the following chart outlines PanAmSat's current launch schedule and the expected in-service dates of the planned satellites. The company's launch providers have indicated that they can accommodate the current launch schedule.

Satellite         Spacecraft Model      Prior Launch/In-Service
PAS-10            Boeing 601 HP            1Q 2001/2Q 2001
Galaxy IIIC       Boeing 702               2Q 2001/3Q 2001

Current Launch/In-Service         Launch Provider
  2Q 2001/3Q 2001                 ILS Proton
  3Q 2001/4Q 2001                 Sea Launch

About PanAmSat

PanAmSat is a leading provider of global video and data broadcasting services via satellite. The company builds, owns and operates networks that deliver entertainment and information to cable television systems, TV broadcast affiliates, direct-to-home TV operators, Internet service providers, telecommunications companies and corporations. With 20 spacecraft in orbit today (20 following the retirement of PAS-1), PanAmSat has the world's largest commercial geostationary satellite network. The company will expand its global fleet to 22 spacecraft by year-end 2001. For more information on PanAmSat, visit the company's web site at http://www.panamsat.com.