The TürkmenÄlem 52°E/MonacoSat satellite is jointly owned by the Ministry of Communication of Turkmenistan and SSI – Monaco. The satellite was built by Thales Alenia Space based on their SPACEBUS 4000 C2. The satellite has 38 Ku-band transponders providing coverage in Europe, the Middle-East, Africa and Asia with three downlink beams: 

• The West beam is centred on Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan with 53 dbW power providing reception on dishes down to about 50 cm. The beam extends at lower powers north east across Russia, north across Scandinavia to Svalbard and west across Europe to the Atlantic with a second high power lobe over France and southern UK.
• The East beam is also centred on Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan with a slightly reduced power (52 dBW) and extends west across central and northern Europe with a second 52 dBW lobe over north west France.
• The MENA beam is centred on the Arabian Peninsula and North Africa (Libya) with a maximum power of 51 dBW, and extends as far south as Sudan and Ethiopia.

In particular, MonacoSAT provides growth potential for the satellite operator Yahsat, based in Abu Dhabi, and satellite operator SES, based in Luxembourg,  joint venture bouquet YahLive, additional to the broadcasts from YahSat 1A at the adjacent orbital position of 52.5° East.

Located in geostationary orbit, Turkmenistan’s/MonacoSat satellite, enables to provide comprehensive communications services, including digital broadcasting, telephone communications, videoconferencing, data transmission, satellite Internet not only to customers in our country, but also to users in other countries in Central Asia, Iran, Turkey, North Africa, Europe. At present, high-capacity transponders of the satellite allow high-definition national television and radio broadcasting. Various ministries and agencies of Turkmenistan use satellite-provided services.

The satellite was originally intended to be launched on a Chinese Long March 3B rocket, operated by launch operator CGWIC, but International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) prevented some US-made parts being exported to China for the launch. The launch was switched to SpaceX in June 2013 for launching the satellite on a Falcon 9 rocket. The launch was first scheduled for March 21st, 2015 but was delayed due to a possible problem with a helium pressurisation system on the Falcon 9 rocket. The subsequent launch was executed on April 27th, 2015.