Advanced Television

ViaSat Brazil takes slice of Eutelsat 3B

May 16, 2014

By Chris Forrester

Eutelsat has leased a ‘multi-year’ contract with ViaSat’s Brazilian subsidiary which will take the entire ‘High Throughput’ portion of Eutelsat’s 3B satellite due for launch in two weeks.

Eutelsat 3B is scheduled to launch on May 26th. The agreement covers 5 steerable Ka-band beams which will all now focus on Brazil. “It is the first time that Brazil will benefit from nationwide satellite coverage in the Ka-band to complement fixed and mobile terrestrial infrastructure used for broadband services.,” said Eutelsat.

Michel de Rosen, Eutelsat’s CEO, described the deal as a “landmark agreement”.

Eutelsat 3B is on target to launch at the end of May from the ‘Sea Launch’ floating platform in the Pacific Ocean. It will orbit to the 3 degree West position. The satellite has been built by Astrium with 51 transponders, including Ka-band, Ku-band and C-band capacity for the Latino, African, MENA and central Asia markets.

Once 3B is in orbit and ready for business the existing 3D satellite will be relocated to another orbital position.

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