The Eutelsat Konnect VHTS satellite has been successfully launched by Arianespace from Kourou, French Guiana.
A very high throughput satellite built by Thales Alenia Space, it will provide fixed broadband and mobile connectivity across Europe, North Africa and the Middle East.
Delivering 230 beams over Western Europe and with a Ka-band capacity of 500 Gbps, it is also the largest geostationary satellite ever ordered to date in Europe.
Eutelsat Konnect VHTS will offer a capacity seven times that of its parent satellite Eutelsat Konnect launched in 2020, comes with several major firmly committed customers for satellite broadband connectivity. They include Orange via its Nordnet affiliate for French coverage, Telecom Italia Mobile over Italy and Thales Alenia Space to serve government connectivity services.
Commenting on the launch, Eva Berneke, CEO of Eutelsat, said: “Our congratulations to Arianespace and the Guiana Space Center teams for successfully launching our Eutelsat Konnect VHTS satellite into geostationary orbit. Thanks to this fine-tuned collaboration between three French players of excellence, Eutelsat, Thales Alenia Space and Arianespace, we are able to bring connectivity to the next level in Europe and participate in bridging the digital divide everywhere on the continent”.
