The service debuts of Eutelsat 8 West B and Eutelsat 115 B in the next quarter will bring the Paris-based operator additional capacity in the coming quarter.
Publishing its first quarter financials for the period ending September 30, 2015, Eutelsat said the new satellites would boost coverage in the MENA and LATAM regions respectively with Eutelsat 115 B entering service ahead of schedule. Michel de Rosen, Eutelsat’s chairman and CEO, said available capacity would ramp up as the year progressed. “We have taken major steps to position ourselves to grasp the significant opportunities on the African Broadband market with the lease AMOS-6 Ka-band payload in partnership with Facebook and the procurement of a follow-on standalone high throughput satellite for Africa.”
Total revenues from the quarter came to €387.7 million, up 2.0% at constant currency.
The dominant Video Applications segment, which represents 62% of revenues, was down 1.6% at €229.4 million. Higher revenues from Eutelsat Americas and the 16° East (Sub-Saharan Africa and Central Europe) and 7° East (Turkey and East Africa) were offset by contract negotiations with Russian customers and the non-renewal of some service provider contracts.
New agreements in recent weeks include a multi-year agreement for an additional transponder with Arqiva at 28° East to serve the UK DTH (Direct-to-Home) broadcast market and additional capacity taken by Telekom Austria Group and ANTIK Telekom at 16° East for their new Direct-to-Home platform for the Slovak and Czech markets
Following the recent decision of Michel de Rosen to step down as chief executive officer as of March 1, 2016, his successor Rodolphe Belmer will become deputy CEO, alongside Michel Azibert, from December 1.
