Telstar-12 is a Ku-band satellite with coverage of North America as far West as Cleveland, Ohio; the majority of South America; Europe as far East as the United Arab Emirates and South Africa.
Telstar-12 also has the capability to provide intercontinental connectivity including trans-Atlantic to the Mid-East.

The Telstar-12 satellite, constructed by Space System/Loral (SS/L), was originally built for Orion Network Systems, which merged with Loral Skynet shortly before the satellite was launched on an Ariane 44LP rocket on October 19th, 1999 by launch operator Arianespace. The satellite was subsequently transferred to Telesat when it merged with Loral Skynet in 2007. Loral Skynet operated four satellites, Telstar-11N, -12, -14R (Estrela do Sul-2) and Telstar-18 and were all transferred to Telesat after the merge.

In Q1 2016, Telstar-12 was replaced Telstar-12V (Telstar 12 Vantage) satellite.