Es'hailSat
Es'hailSat (Qatar Satellite Company) is a Doha-based government-owned satellite operator founded in 2010 under the Qatar Investment Authority, established to give Qatar sovereign GEO satellite communications infrastructure independent of reliance on foreign operators for national broadcasting, government connectivity, and strategic communications. The company operates two GEO satellites: Es'hail-1 (launched November 2013, Arianespace Ariane 5), providing Ku-band broadcasting and broadband services to the MENA region with coverage from Morocco to Pakistan; and Es'hail-2 (launched November 2018, SpaceX Falcon 9), Qatar's flagship satellite in a dual-Ku and Ka-band configuration covering MENA, Europe, and sub-Saharan Africa. Es'hail-2 carries a unique payload that has made it globally famous in the amateur radio community: the first geostationary amateur radio transponder — a 250 mW narrowband linear transponder and a wideband digital transponder on amateur radio frequencies, enabling radio amateurs worldwide to make contacts via a GEO satellite using modest antenna setups. This amateur transponder, operated in partnership with the Qatar Amateur Radio Society (QARS), has been designated QO-100 (Qatar OSCAR 100) by the amateur satellite community. Es'hailSat serves Qatar's domestic satellite television and broadband needs, provides capacity to regional broadcasters in Arabic, and supplies government secure communications for Qatar's ministries and diplomatic missions. As Qatar hosted the 2022 FIFA World Cup, Es'hailSat provided satellite broadcasting infrastructure for international coverage across the MENA broadcasting footprint. The company competes with Arabsat and Eutelsat for MENA region broadcast and broadband satellite capacity.