Satellite managed by Eutelsat and Facebook lost in launch pad explosion

Eutelsat Communications has issued a statement regarding the loss a satellite that was to be managed by Eutelsat and Facebook to cover Sub-Saharan Africa. The satellite exploded on the launch pad of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in Cape Canaveral on September 1.

In collaboration with Facebook, Eutelsat had contracted a multi-year agreement to lease the satellite’s Ka-band payload covering Sub-Saharan Africa, with a view to launching broadband services from early 2017.

Eutelsat remains committed to growing broadband in Africa and will explore other options to serve the needs of key clients ahead of the launch of its own full-High Throughput African broadband satellite, due in 2019.

The impact on revenues is estimated at around $5.6 million in FY 2016-17, $16.7 million in FY 2017-18 and $28-33.5 million in FY 2018-19. Attendant savings in operating costs will partially mitigate the impact on the EBITDA margin. All financial objectives published on 29 July 2016 are confirmed.