SES and Eutelsat in Ethiopia spat

Back on February 12th Eutelsat announced it had signed a multi-year contract with the Ethiopian Broadcasting Corp and the Association of Ethiopian Broadcasters for video capacity on its Eutelsat 8 West B satellite.

So far so straightforward.

But then last week SES announced a multi-year capacity deal with the Ethiopian Broadcasting Corp and the Association of Ethiopian Broadcasters.

Statements from AEB Chief Executive Amman Fissehazion appeared in both announcements, and in each he praised the relationship with (a) Eutelsat, and then (b) SES.

Eutelsat, in a statement, confirms that its contract remained “active”. SES, in its statement, stressed the “migration agreement” in place with the Assoc of Ethiopian Broadcasters.

Some observers suggest that the claims will end up in court under some sort of breach of contract argument. It does seem unlikely that Ethiopia, fast-growing as it is, would need this ‘doubling’ of capacity.