Paris, January 20, 2006 – The HOT BIRDTM 7A broadcasting satellite built by Alcatel Alenia Space for Eutelsat Communications (Euronext Paris: ETL) arrived last night at the Kourou launch site in French Guiana. The satellite’s scheduled launch date is 21 February 2006 on-board an Ariane 5 ECA rocket.
HOT BIRD™ 7A will be positioned at 13 degrees East, Eutelsat’s prime neighbourhood for television and radio broadcasting to satellite and cable homes. Equipped with 38 Ku-band transponders, its dual mission is to replace existing capacity at 13 degrees East and, in conjunction with HOT BIRD™ 8 which is due for launch in second quarter, to provide complete in-orbit redundancy at the HOT BIRD™ location. Eutelsat’s HOT BIRD™ neighbourhood today hosts 850 television channels and 550 radio stations, serving 110 million homes in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East.
With Alcatel Alenia Space as prime contractor (platform and payload), HOT BIRDTM 7A continues a long history of industrial cooperation with Eutelsat that over almost 20 years has seen orders placed for 16 satellites*. Based on Alcatel Alenia Space’s Spacebus 3000B3 platform, HOT BIRD™ 7A has a launch mass of more than 4 tonnes and its solar panels will deliver 10 kW of electrical power. The satellite’s lifetime is 15 years.
* 5 EUTELSAT II (F1 to F5), HOT BIRDTM 1, HOT BIRDTM 6, HOT BIRDTM 7A, W2, W3, W4, W5, SESAT 1 (with NPO-PM) EUROBIRD™ 1, ATLANTIC BIRD™ 2, ATLANTIC BIRD™ 3.
About Eutelsat Communications
Eutelsat Communications (Euronext Paris: ETL, ISIN code: FR0010221234) is the holding company of Eutelsat S.A. The Group is a leading satellite operator with capacity commercialised on 22 satellites providing coverage over the entire European continent, as well as the Middle East, Africa, India and significant parts of Asia and the Americas. The Group is one of the world’s three leading satellite operators in terms of revenues. Its satellites are used for broadcasting over 1,700 TV and 860 radio stations to nearly 120 million cable and satellite homes. The Group also provides TV contribution services, corporate networks, mobile positioning and communications, Internet backbone connectivity and broadband access for terrestrial, maritime and inflight applications. Eutelsat Communications is headquartered in Paris, and the Group’s workforce comprises over 450 commercial, technical and operational employees from 25 countries.www.eutelsat.com
Eutelsat Press Contacts
Vanessa O’Connor
Tél. : + 33 1 53 98 38 88
voconnor@eutelsat.fr
Frédérique Gautier
fgautier@eutelsat.fr
Eutelsat Investor Relations
Gilles Janvier
+33 (0) 1 53 98 35 35
investors@eutelsat-communications.com
About Alcatel Alenia Space
Alcatel Alenia Space is the European leader in satellite systems, at the forefront of orbit infrastructures. Created in July 2005, the company brings together the vast experience and know-how of Alcatel Space and Alenia Spazio to form a new leading force in European space technology. Alcatel Alenia Space represents a worldwide standard for space development that impacts everybody’s future: from navigation to telecommunications, from meteorology to environmental monitoring, from defence to science and observation. Alcatel Alenia Space is an Alcatel (Paris: CGEP.PA and NYSE: ALA) (67%) and Finmeccanica (Milan:SIFI.MI, FNC.IM) (33%) company.
About Alcatel
Alcatel provides communications solutions to telecommunication carriers, Internet service providers and enterprises for delivery of voice, data and video applications to their customers or employees. Alcatel brings its leading position in fixed and mobile broadband networks; applications and services, to help its partners and customers build a user-centric broadband world. With sales of EURO 12.3 billion and 56,000 employees in 2004, Alcatel operates in more than 130 countries.
