Students from Zimbabwe and Uganda Shine in pan-African Competition Organised by MultiChoice Africa and Eutelsat

Regulatory News:

The winners of the DStv Eutelsat Star Awards, the unique pan-African competition that sparks interest in science and space technology in young African students were announced tonight in Zambia.

The fourth edition of the DStv Eutelsat Star Awards, organised by MultiChoice and Eutelsat, attracted over 1,000 entries from 14 countries. The winner in the essay category, Joseph Mahiya (Zimbabwe), has won a trip to Paris and onwards to a launch site to witness a rocket blast into space to place a satellite into orbit. The runner up in the essay category was João Nuno Freire Melo (Angola) who wins a trip for two to visit MultiChoice facilities and the South African National Space Agency near Johannesburg. The theme for the essay category was to imagine yourself as a satellite looking down on earth and consider the key issues shaping Africa and how satellites can help development.

In the poster category, first place went to Hannah Kasule (Uganda) who will visit Eutelsat in Paris. Lesley Chakurira (Zimbabwe) was the runner up in the same category. The four winning schools attended by the overall award winners and runners-up were also rewarded with a DStv installation, including dish, TV set, PVR decoder and free access to the DStv Education Bouquet.

The international jury assessing this year’s entries was chaired by European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Paolo Nespoli with Dr. Jacob O Ashong, Director (also Higher Education Consultant) at the Ghana Science Project and Planetarium; Christine Mugimba, Head of Spectrum Management at the Uganda Communications Commission; Professor Steve Simukanga, Vice Chancellor of the University of Zambia as well as a representative from MultiChoice Africa and Eutelsat.

Commenting on the entries, Paolo Nespoli said: "The jury was truly impressed by the grasp of technology, the maturity of ideas, the quality of compositions and the creativity of artwork in this year’s entries. The DStv Eutelsat Star Awards shines a spotlight on the potential of the many inspired and motivated students in Africa who are passionate about the development of their continent and the opportunities for progress. It is an honour to assess their work.”

The winners were announced in the presence of the Permanent Secretary of the Zambian Ministry of Education, Chishimba Nkosha, who commented: "I am sure I am speaking on behalf of everybody here when I say education serves as the means to bring about the desired change in society, to develop a generation of virtuous individuals and thus contribute to the development of good human beings. I hope that MultiChoice Africa and Eutelsat will continue to inspire not only young Zambians but the youth all over the continent to take up careers in sciences so that Africa can produce more engineers, astronauts, medical doctors and others in the future.”

About Eutelsat Communications

Established in 1977, Eutelsat Communications (Euronext Paris: ETL, ISIN code: FR0010221234) is one of the world's leading and most experienced operators of communications satellites. The company provides capacity on 34 satellites to clients that include broadcasters and broadcasting associations, pay-TV operators, video, data and Internet service providers, enterprises and government agencies. Eutelsat’s satellites provide ubiquitous coverage of Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia-Pacific and the Americas, enabling video, data, broadband and government communications to be established irrespective of a user’s location. Headquartered in Paris, with offices and teleports around the globe, Eutelsat represents a workforce of 1,000 men and women from 32 countries who are experts in their fields and work with clients to deliver the highest quality of service.

For more about Eutelsat please visit www.eutelsat.com

About MultiChoice Africa

MultiChoice Africa Limited ("MultiChoice Africa”) is an African pioneer of pay TV services in sub-Sahara Africa, having launched the first digital satellite service in the 1980s. MultiChoice Africa provides multi-channel multi-platform digital pay television services containing channels from Africa, America, China, India, Asia and Europe. The company has over twenty years’ experience as a Pay TV operator in Africa, offering cutting-edge digital technology and a selection of DStv and GOtv bouquets containing premium television channels for subscribers in 50 African countries and the adjacent Indian Ocean islands. MultiChoice Africa provides its digital satellite television service – DStv - to subscribers’ homes from two different satellites, namely: the Intelsat 20 ("IS 20”) Ku BAND and Eutelsat 36B (used to be called W7) Ku Band. The GOtv offering is on a DTT (DVB-T2) network which was established in 2011 and currently covers eight countries. This low cost mass market offering provides great family entertainment at a price everyone can afford.

For more about MultiChoice Africa please visit www.dstv.com