Eutelsat begins redeployment of satellites with 3D

Eutelsat’s 3D satellite has gone into full commercial services at 3° East.

Traffic was transferred overnight from the existing Eutelsat 3C satellite.

Eutelsat 3D, with 32 operational Ku-band transponders and one 108MHz Ka-band transponder, will provide additional capacity at the 3° East position, targeting video, data, telecom and broadband markets in Europe and Africa.

The satellite will stand in at 3° East until the deployment of Eutelsat 3B in the second quarter of 2014. The latter will also include C-band capacity. Eutelsat 3C will then be moved to the Hot Bird position at 13° East and renamed Hot Bird 13D, joining Hot Bird 13B and C each with a full payload of 64 operational Ku-band transponders.

Hot Bird 13A will at that point be redeployed to the 7/8° West position and become Eutelsat 8 West C, delivering additional transponders for satellite TV in North Africa and the Middle East. This position already hosts Eutelsat and Nilesat satellites, broadcasting over 1,000 channels to 30 million homes in the region.

The 7/8° slot will further be boosted by the launch of Eutelsat 8 West B in the second half of 2015.