A multi-million-pound deal has left staff at Portsmouth's EADS Astrium starstruck.
The firm's latest success is a contract with Luxembourg-based SES Astra to create, launch and maintain a satellite which will deliver broadband and television to tens of millions of European users, including those in the UK.
Believed to be worth u
pwards of £100m, the deal is further fuelling the firm's recruitment drive, with around 100 extra technicians and engineers to be hired in the coming months, in addition to the 95 recruited since January.
Up to 100 of the plant's 1,300 staff will build the core of a new European broadcast satellite, known as Astra 1N, which will be one of the most sophisticated ever built by the firm, capable of carrying 500 television stations, 200 high-definition stations, and 4,000 radio stations.
The payload – the key components and software making up the 'brain' of the system – will be designed and built in Portsmouth.
Astrium had previously built two satellites for Astra, called 1M and 3B, but the latest order is the most complex so far.
David Phillips, project manager for Astra, said: 'This is the third contract in a row we've won from Astra, which is quite an achievement, because they're the most demanding set-up out there. So to have them come back for another deal shows the confidence they have in us.
'This helps us secure our existing jobs, and as business is buoyant, we're taking on more staff to meet the demands of the business.
'It's a surprise to a lot of people locally that this goes on in Portsmouth. But this is the centre for excellence in Europe. In Europe, we're number one at the moment, and probably number two in the world for this kind of technology.'
The full article contains 303 words and appears in The News newspaper.
