Nilesat 101 was launched by an Ariane 4 rocket from Kourou, French Guiana on 28 April 1998 at 22:53:00 UTC by the European Space Agency. It was manufactured by the European company Matra Marconi Space (Astrium) and started official broadcasting on 31 May 1998. The satellite had an expected life time of 12 years.

BSAT-1b was a geostationary communications satellite designed and manufactured by Hughes (now Boeing) on the HS-376 platform. It was originally ordered and operated by the Broadcasting Satellite System Corporation (B-SAT). It was used as a backup of BSAT-1a to broadcast television channels for NHK and WOWOW over Japan. It had a pure Ku band payload and operated on the 110°E longitude until it was replaced, along with its twin BSAT-1a, by BSAT-3a.