Eutelsat's Board of Signatories, meeting in Rapallo (Italy) from June 21 to 25, gave the go-ahead for the Atlantic Bird 1 satellite. The new satellite, to be manufactured by Alenia Aerospazio and delivered in the second quarter of 2001, will be made available to Eutelsat via a long-term lease contract.
Atlantic Bird 1 will enable Eutelsat to extend geographical reach by bridging the Atlantic from North and South America to Europe, and will reinforce the Organization's position as market leader throughout the European continent.
Atlantic Bird 1 will be a 20-transponder Ku-band satellite with beams over North and South America as well as a beam covering Europe, North Africa and the near Middle East.
In the immediate term, Eutelsat is reinforcing its Atlantic Gate mission by repositioning the Eutelsat II-F2 satellite to 12.5 degrees West. Eutelsat II-F2 will next month join Eutelsat I-F5 that has been operational at 12.5 degrees West since February this year.
The commitment to the Atlantic Gate will enable Eutelsat to meet high demand for intra-European business networks, to compete in the transatlantic market for Internet backbone and broadcasting contribution links, and to embrace market demand for professional intranet and extranet networks and consumer television services from America directly into Europe.
With a current fleet of 14 satellites, Paris-based Eutelsat is Europe's leading satellite operator and ranks as one of the largest globally. Eutelsat's satellites broadcast more than 5000 digital and analogue television channels to over 70 million satellite and cable homes.
