EUTELSAT 65 West A satellite goes live at 65° West

PARIS — Eutelsat Communications (NYSE Euronext Paris: ETL) announces that its EUTELSAT 65 West A satellite, launched on 9 March, is now fully powered up and ready for service across Brazil and Latin America. The satellite inaugurates Eutelsat’s presence at the 65° West position, a premier location for broadcasting in Brazil.

Tri-band satellite for multiple applications

EUTELSAT 65 West A is a tri-band satellite built to target markets across Latin America through a unique combination of C, Ku and Ka bands. Its high-power Ku-band payload is optimised for Direct-to-Home reception and corporate connectivity in Brazil, Central America, the Caribbean and the Andean region. It also features a transatlantic C-band coverage for cross-continental video contribution and distribution and a multi-spotbeam Ka-band payload. Hughes do Brasil (Hughes) has concluded a 15-year contract for the entire Ka-band capacity with coverage over Brazil to support the launch of its HughesNet® broadband service for consumers and businesses in areas unserved or underserved by terrestrial networks. Stargroup will also utilise Ka-band capacity for broadband services in Mexico, Colombia and Peru.

New Network Operations centre in Brazil

In order to strengthen support for clients in the Americas, Eutelsat has opened a Network Operations Centre (NOC) in Santana do Parnaiba in the state of Sao Paulo. The teleport hosting the NOC is also equipped with comprehensive resources for Telemetry, Command and Ranging (TCR) of EUTELSAT 65 West A and will include radiofrequency and video monitoring tools for service quality assurance of C, Ku and Ka-band services provided through seven Eutelsat satellites providing coverage of the Americas.

Antenna Seeding Programme

Eutelsat is anchoring EUTELSAT 65 West A in the Brazilian broadcasting market with an Antenna Seeding Programme designed to ensure that pay-TV and cable operators across the country are equipped to receive channels delivered by the new satellite.