As part of a long-term agreement signed in 2017 with the European GNSS Agency (GSA),
EUTELSAT 5 West B will also host the GEO-3 payload of the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay System (EGNOS), used to improve the performance of global navigation satellite systems such as GPS and Galileo.
Commenting on the company's performance, Rodolphe Belmer, CEO of
Eutelsat Communications said: "On the operational front, the past year was notable once again for the resilience of core Broadcast, supported by rising channel count and HD penetration.
This new long-term commitment builds on the previous contract signed by
Eutelsat and Arianespace in February 2013, which was expanded in 2017.
The acquisition of Noorsat fits with
Eutelsat's broader strategy of streamlining distribution within selected core video neighbourhoods where it can create value.
Following further manoeuvres and in-orbit tests,
EUTELSAT 9B will be positioned at 9 degrees East in March to assume broadcasting of over 350 TV channels currently served at this position by
EUTELSAT 9A and provide expansion capacity for new services.
The new high-power satellite is co-located with a constellation of satellites operated by
Eutelsat and Nilesat at the 7/8 degrees West neighbourhood.
According to the company, this innovative software-defined '
Eutelsat Quantum' class of satellites will set new standards in terms of coverage, bandwidth, and power and frequency configurability for users operating in government, mobility and data markets.
This establishes
Eutelsat as a key provider of satellite capacity to Divona in a market where it has built multiple partnerships with the leading telecom and broadcast players accelerating the deployment of digital infrastructure.
Using
EUTELSAT 16A's powerful Ku-band footprint that sweeps across Africa, from Senegal in the West to Madagascar in the East, Eurochannel has joined a digital platform uplinked by
Eutelsat and comprising over 20 TV channels.
NOORSAT's services operate principally at
Eutelsat's two major video neighbourhoods addressing the Middle East: 7 degrees West, occupied by ATLANTIC BIRD(TM) 4A, and 25.5 degrees East occupied by EUROBIRD(TM) 2.
The service is based on
Eutelsat's satellite coverage, the commercial and infrastructure operating experience of
Eutelsat's subsidiary Skylogic, and SurfBeam technology developed by ViaSat.
During the three-day
Eutelsat conference, several other companies also introduced their newest satellite technologies.