PARIS, France -- WorldSpace, the first satellite radio service, has signed a contract with Radio France International (RFI), the third largest international radio network in the world, to broadcast CD quality music, news and entertainment from space to 30 million listeners located in Africa and the Middle East.

"Now the culture of France will travel even further thanks to our satellites. It will reach the life of millions of men, women and children across Africa and the Arab world, we welcome RFI on board our system" said Noah Samara, chairman and chief executive officer of the Washington, D.C.-based WorldSpace.

AfriStar, the first satellite, which was launched October 28, 1998 into an orbit 22,300 miles (35.700 kilometers) above Earth, will carry French, Arabic and English RFI programs over Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, as well as most Western parts of Europe.

Broadcasters who have signed agreements with WorldSpace, including BBC, Bloomberg News and CNN, along with other African and European radio stations, represent 70 percent of the capacity on the AfriStar satellite, according to the company.

"Although we target primarily the audience of emerging countries around the world, we sign contracts with international broadcasters on a 'first-come, first-serve' basis with no discrimination," said Samara in an exclusive interview to SPACE.com. "Afristar will come soon to full capacity, and not only…[will we]…build the fourth WorldSpace satellite as a spare, but we'll have to build a fifth and a sixth WorldSpace satellite down the road."

For Jean-Paul Cluzel, RFI CEO, "shortwave, which is presently the only possibility to cover large low-populated area in Africa, provides uncertain and crackling programming; on the long run, … digital satellite radio will substitute the present system of shortwave broadcast."

Although the details of RFI and WorldSpace's two-year contract weren't disclosed, Cluzel said it was a small fraction of the yearly operational cost of ground-based shortwave network. In 2000, TFI will pay $23.5 million to operate 14 shortwave transmitters.

AsiaStar, WorldSpace's second satellite, providing coverage to Asia and the Pacific, will be launched March 21 on board an Ariane 5 rocket from French Guiana, Samara said. And AmeriStar, which is to broadcast to the Latin American and Caribbean regions, is planned in a year from now. They all will be launched on Ariane rockets. The fourth one, which is not built yet, will be a backup in case of failure of one the three orbiting satellites.

France played a key role in the WorldSpace system: Alcatel Espace, the French aerospace firm based in Toulouse, is responsible for the construction and the development of the four WorldSpace satellites. The contract for the satellites and ground stations, represents about $800 million.

Four giant Japanese manufacturing companies will develop and mass-produce the receivers, starting early next year. Each hand-held radio, whose initial $350 to $200 price should decrease with large production, will be equipped with its own flat-patch antenna to directly receive satellite broadcasts. There have been 30,000 receivers shipped to Africa, and 70,000 more have been ordered.

The second generation of receivers will be able to be connected to PCs and to access text and images. "We work already on a third generation, we are testing new technology to insert our microchips into mobile phones and computers to allow direct link to our on-orbit satellites," said Noah.

However, not all of Europe's business sectors are convinced of the possibilities offered by WorldSpace. Europe's automobile manufacturers have showed little interest in having WorldSpace technology installed on their high-price vehicles' satellite radio receivers.

"It's amazing, even if our system has not been optimized for cars, some automobile travelers in Europe have been able to receive excellent signal from AfriStar…[while]…driving from Switzerland to the English channel, they only lost the signal in the tunnels," Samara said.