How it started
History
In 1982 the governments of Sweden and Norway formed NSAB as part of a wide-ranging partnership for the purpose of "telecommunication satellite cooperation". In 1989 the two governments agreed to end their partnership, the Swedish government assumed full ownership with the acquisition of Norway's 15% share.
On April 2, 1989, NSAB's first satellite, the Aérospatiale built Tele-X, was launched on an Ariane 2 rocket from French Guiana. The Swedish Space Corporation (SSC) was contracted to operate the TELE-X system and in 1993 the company acquired the Swedish government's shares, becoming the sole owner.
In late 1993 NSAB acquired Marco Polo 1, a Hughes 376 geostationary communications satellite, from British Sky Broadcasting. Marco Polo 1 was built for and operated by British Satellite Broadcasting. However following that company's collapse it merged with Sky Television to form BSkyB. In this "merger" Sky was the dominant force and their system of transponder lease from SES' Astra satellites was maintained. Marco Polo 1 (and its sister satellite) were gradually withdrawn from service.
In February 1994 Teracom acquired a 50% share of NSAB. The same month Marco Polo 1 re-entered service as Sirius 1 at 5°E. In July 1994 NSAB agreed the purchase of Sirius 2 from Aérospatiale (later Alcatel Space). The satellite was successfully launched on November 12, 1997, by Ariane 4 rocket. Shortly after launch SES signed a lease agreement for all transponders on the satellite.
In 1996 Tele Danmark acquired a 25% share in NSAB from Teracom.
From Wikipedia’s article on SES Sirius, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.2