Eutelsat 25B/Es’hail 1 satellite goes into service

Eutelsat and Es’hailSat’s jointly owned Eutelsat 25B/Es’hail 1 satellite has successfully gone into commercial service 25.5° East, two months after it was launched. 

The satellite is designed to serve broadcasters, businesses and public agencies operating in the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia.

News of the deployment came as Eutelsat reported solid fiscal Q1 results, for the three months ending September 30, with revenue up 2.9% year-on-year to €323.5 million.

The firm said that 67.8% of these revenues came from video applications, though at €217.1 million this was virtual stable with last year – reflecting “the lack of incremental capacity and a high fill-rate at key video neighbourhoods.”

As of the end of September, Eutelsat said that the total number of channels broadcast by its satellites was 4,713, up 7.0% year-on-year. Some 439 of these channels were in HD, implying an HD penetration rate of 9.3%

Eutelsat said that channels broadcast from the 7°/8° West neighbourhood – covering the Middle East and North Africa – rose by 17% during the year to 688.

Channels broadcast from the 16° East neighbourhood – covering sub-Saharan Africa, Indian Ocean Islands and Central Europe – rose by 23% during the year to 728 at 30 September2013.

“Coverage of Russia will be further enhanced with the entry into service of Express-AT1 (at 56° East) and Express-AT2 (at 140° East) in the second half of the current financial year, on which 16 transponders have already been contracted to TricolorTV,” said Eutelsat.