Eutelsat reaches settlement on disputed 28.5° East slot

Eutelsat has reached agreement with Deutsche Telekom over the duration of Eutelsat’s right to use a German filing at the disputed 28.5° East orbital slot. 

Both parties have agreed that arbitration proceedings started in 2011 before the International Court of Arbitratio of the International Chamber of Commerce will be terminated, and the Court of Arbitration will shortly issue a ruling by consent based on the settlement agreed between the pair.

In October, Eutelsat filed a request for arbitration against rival satellite operator SES with the International Chamber of Commerce in Paris over an alleged breach of the agreement between the pair governing the use of frequencies at the closely adjacent 28.2° and 28.5° East orbital position operated by SES and Eutelsat respectively.

According to Eutelsat, a deal between SES and broadcast services provider Media Broadcast, which was owned by Deutsche Telekom until sold to TDF in 2008, for the use of additional spectrum violated SES’s agreement with Eutelsat on the use of the frequencies.