Astra 4A (originally Sirius 4) is one of the Astra communications satellites owned and operated by SES at the Astra 5°E orbital slot providing digital television and radio broadcasts, data, and interactive services to Nordic countries, eastern Europe and sub-Saharan Africa in the 11.70 GHz-12.75 GHz range of the Ku band and 18.8 GHz-21.75 GHz range of the Ka band.
Overview
The satellite was launched in November 2007 as Sirius 4 by SES Sirius. At that time, SES owned a 75% shareholding in SES Sirius, which was increased to 90% in 2008 and to 100% in March 2010. In June 2010, the affiliate company was renamed SES Astra (then a subsidiary company of SES) and the Sirius 4 satellite was renamed Astra 4A.[2]
Astra 4A provides three Ku band broadcast beams - the Nordic beam to Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland, the European beam to Eastern European and Baltic countries including Belarus, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Russia and Ukraine, and the African beam to sub-Saharan Africa.
Reception is possible on dishes as small as 60 cm from all three beams, with reception from the European beam across Europe and from the African beam across sub-Saharan across Africa with dishes of 90 cm-120 cm.[3]