Spacecom’s Amos-17 is to launch on August 3 from Cape Canaveral.

The communications satellite will be launched by a SpaceX Falcon-9 vehicle in a late evening timeslot.

Located at 17 degrees East, Amos 17 will primarily serve sub-Saharan Africa and connect to Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Spacecom already has a sales backlog of US$ 58 million for communications services into the African market. The company is anticipating further orders will follow the launch.

Spacecom CEO and president, David Pollack said: “Amos 17 is a project with forward-looking technologies and provides a significant boost for our satellite fleet’s capacity, operational flexibility, expansion to more regions and technological superiority. Providing unique Turn Key Solutions for a range of uses will provide our customers with key competitive advantages and expand our partners and Spacecom’s corporate opportunities in the years to come.”

Spacecom hopes the digital High Throughput Satellite will be able to tap into the needs of mobile operators and telecom service providers looking to reach Africa’s growing population in rural and outlying areas.

From its prime audio position over Africa, Amos 17 is capable of covering an entire country with a single beam.

Amos 6, which also had considerable connectivity over Africa, was destroyed in a launchpad accident in September 2016.