KUALA LUMPUR, April 13 — Astro Malaysia Holdings Bhd will pay US$22.5 million (RM87.2 million) of cash to Measat Global Bhd for the usage of transponder capacity on Measat-3b (M3b) satellite, The Star reported.

The satellite pay-TV service provider said its unit, Measat Broadcast Network Systems Sdn Bhd (MBNS) had entered into an agreement with Measat International (South Asia) Ltd (Misal) to use the capacity.

"The new bandwidth from the additional transponders could be used to offer a more diverse near video-on-demand services and to optimise video streaming infrastructure through push video-on-demand for AMH and accordingly improve its service offering to its customers.

"The proposed utilisation is also intended to act as back-up capacity in the event of a breakdown in any of the Astro Malaysia group’s existing transponders currently utilised on M3b satellite,” it said.

At present, MBNS leases 18 transponders on the M3b satellite from MISAL. Now, MISAL will supply an additional six transponders to MBNS for 12 years starting June 8, 2018 until June 11, 2030.