Arianespace’s eighth Service & Solutions contract of 2009 was signed to loft the new Alphasat I-XL communications satellite, to be used by British operator Inmarsat. Ariane 5 is scheduled to launch the satellite – which will provide advanced mobile voice and data communications services across Europe, Africa and the Middle East – from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana in 2012. This contract follows a partnership agreement between Inmarsat and the European Space Agency (ESA) concerning the commercialization of the first mission to use the new European platform, Alphabus.