Eutelsat hit by Iranian jamming
October 7, 2022
By Chris Forrester
Eutelsat is suffering jamming from Iran. The deliberate jamming is affecting “external” channels being beamed into Iran. There are currently major civil demonstrations taking place in Iran, especially from young women objecting to the extremist government. The Guardian newspaper reports that Iran’s security forces have responded with live ammunition and brutal violence, killing over 50 people already and arresting over 1,500.
Eutelsat, in a statement, says: “Since 26 September, Eutelsat has been experiencing jamming on two of its satellites. The interferences harmfully affect the transmission of several digital TV and radio channels broadcasting in Persian from outside of Iran, as well as other channels.”
It is understood that the BBC’s Persian-language TV channel is at least one of those affected.
Eutelsat added: “As a result of measurements conducted with a specially designed interference detection system, Eutelsat concluded that the uplink transmissions of all these interfering carriers originated in Iran.”
In order to remedy this situation in the shortest possible time, Eutelsat says it is taking action simultaneously along two main lines: on the diplomatic front, and using all appropriate national and international procedures, Eutelsat has immediately notified the relevant authorities in the Islamic Republic of Iran, demanding that the harmful jamming operations be immediately and permanently stopped.
Eutelsat says it has also reminded the relevant Iranian authorities that intentional jamming is explicitly prohibited by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Radio Regulations. Concurrently, on the technical front, “Eutelsat’s technical experts have been working around the clock with affected customers to mitigate the impact of the interference on service as much as possible”.