May 11, 2018 – The very first satellite of Bangladesh, Bangabandhu Satellite-1, successfully took off from Cape Canaveral launch site on-board a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. This telecommunications and Broadcasting satellite is targeted to narrow the digital divide, as it will take broadcasting and telecommunication services to rural areas and introduce profitable services, including direct-to-home services, across the country and over the region. Thales Alenia Space was in charge of the design, production, testing and the delivery in orbit of Bangabandhu Satellite-1, and also took charge of the two ground segments (Primary and Secondary), which will benefit of the SpaceOps tools for the mission planning and monitoring. Bangabandhu Satellite-1 is fitted with 26 Ku-Band and 14 C-Band transponders. It offers capacity in Ku-Band over Bangladesh and its territorial waters of the Bay of Bengal, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Philippines and Indonesia; it also provides capacity in C-Band over the whole region. Bangabandhu Satellite-1 solution includes all necessary components to manage the customer business and to provide end-user services to network operator.