Eutelsat Communications, one of the world’s leading satellite operators, announced today that it has selected Astrium to build a 48-transponder Ku-band satellite that will be located at its 70.5° East location in geostationary orbit. Scheduled for launch in fourth quarter 2012, the satellite will replace the W5 craft and more than double Eutelsat’s resources at 70.5° East. It will be used for a range of professional applications that include government services, broadband access, GSM backhauling and professional video in Europe, Africa and Central and South-East Asia.
Weighing in at five tonnes, W5A will be based on the Astrium Eurostar E3000 platform, with a designed in-orbit lifetime exceeding 15 years. Each of the satellite’s four high-performance fixed beams will be focused over a distinct zone: Europe, Africa, Central Asia and South-East Asia reaching as far as Australia. Through a high degree of on-board connectivity, clients will be able to use the beams either for regional coverage or to interconnect continents. This will support high-growth services that include secure government communications in Central Asia through hubs located in the region or in Europe, business networks between South-East Asia and Africa, and direct connectivity between Europe and Australia.
W5A forms part of Eutelsat’s capital expenditure programme of an average of 450 million euros per year for the period June 2009 to June 2012.
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