Eutelsat 7C enters commercial service

Eutelsat’s latest satellite, Eutelsat 7C, has entered full commercial service. The satellite is intended to provide capacity for broadcast customers across Africa, Europe, the Middle East and Turkey.

Manufactured by Maxar Technologies, Eutelsat 7C is a 3.4 tonne high-power all-electric satellite carrying 49 36MHz equivalent Ku-band transponders.

The satellite was launched from Kourou in French Guiana, on June 20 last year, and is co-located with Eutelsat 7B at 7° East, increasing capacity at this oribital slot by 19 transponders.

During the night of January 27-28, the Eutelsat teams migrated a number of services from Eutelsat 7A to the new satellite, including Turkish pay TV platform Digiturk, Turkish national broadcaster TRT, and Globecast UK for coverage across Europe and the Middle East.

Eutelsat 7A will be transferred to another orbital location as part of Eutelsat’s fleet optimisation strategy.

Eutelsat 7C is expected to generate additional revenues for the Paris-based operator, which reported a poor fiscal first-quarter in November. Analysts at Berenberg noted at the time that the new satellite, along with the ramp-up of Eutelsat’s African broadband project, would help the operator recover in the second half.