The 1935 kg (4257 lbm) Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems built A2100A satellite will carry twenty-four 36 MHz 20-watt C-band transponders. GE 8 will primarily serve the cable television and radio programmers providing each capacity for meeting its regional or national distribution requirements. The satellite is expected to have a design life of 15 years. AT&T Alascom purchased a large portion of the GE 8 C-band communications payload to carry its interstate and intrastate telephony, voice and digital services for customers throughout the state of Alaska. The satellite will be jointly owned and operated by GE Americom and AT&T Alascom. GE Americom will provide satellite Tracking, Telemetry & Control (TT&C) and protection services within its fleet. GE-8 will also be known as Aurora 3. GE Americom placed the order for GE 8 in April 1999. GE 8 will be located at 139ºW, replacing Satcom C5 which is currently operating at that location.