Eutelsat Communications has confirmed the order of a new multi-mission, high-capacity satellite designed to serve dynamically expanding video and broadband markets in Brazil and across Latin America. The company has selected Space Systems/Loral (SSL) to manufacture the EUTELSAT 65 West A satellite that will be launched and operational in early 2016. It will be located at the 65-degree West position where Eutelsat’s subsidiary, Eutelsat do Brasil, was granted frequencies in C, Ku and Ka bands by ANATEL, the Brazilian telecommunications regulatory authority, in June this year.
The new satellite defined by Eutelsat will combine the benefits of broad landmass coverage in C and Ku bands for video distribution to headends and Direct-to-Home broadcasting, with a flexible high throughput payload for broadband access in the Ka band. This tri-band configuration will equip Eutelsat to target markets with the highest growth potential across Latin America, in particularBrazil as it upgrades its digital infrastructure and prepares to host the 2016 Olympic Games. The satellite’s total payload will be distributed as follows:
- 10 transponders in the C band (54 MHz bandwidth) with performance peaking over western parts of Brazil from Belem in the North to Porto Alegre in the South.
- 24 transponders in the Ku band (36 MHz) connected to two service areas: one exclusively for Brazil, peaking over the most populated cities along the coastline and over Manaus, and a second optimised for Spanish-speaking Latin America, from the Caribbean to Patagonia.
- Up to 24 Ka-band spotbeams designed to serve the most populated urban and suburban parts ofBraziland able to serve cities on the Pacific coastline and inCentral America, according to market requirements.
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Eutelsat’s use of 65 degrees West, already a well-anchored neighbourhood for video services, will transform the company’s commercial presence in the Latin American region, which is undergoing dynamic economic growth, generating high demand for digital infrastructure with ubiquitous coverage. Satellites are well-positioned to benefit from this trend, with forecasts of above 7% average annual growth in transponder demand over the 2011-2016 period.
Eutelsat has been operational in Brazil since 2000 through its Eutelsat do Brasil subsidiary located in Rio de Janeiro that markets capacity through a first generation of satellites providing connectivity between South America, Europe and Africa. These resources will be boosted in 2014 by EUTELSAT 3B and in 2015 by EUTELSAT 8 West B that will both deliver Latin American coverage.
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