Satellite operator Eutelsat has contracted EADS Astrium to build its W5A satellite. The spacecraft, which will be based on the Eurostar E3000 platform and carry 48 Ku-band transponders, is scheduled to be launched in the fourth quarter 2012 and will be…
Satellite operator Eutelsat has contracted EADS Astrium to build its W5A satellite. The spacecraft, which will be based on the Eurostar E3000 platform and carry 48 Ku-band transponders, is scheduled to be launched in the fourth quarter 2012 and will be located at 70.5E to cover Europe, Africa, Central Asia and South-East Asia.
The five-tonne satellite will replace W5, a 24 Ku-band transponder spacecraft that was built by Alcatel Space and launched in November 2002.
W5A forms part of Eutelsat’s capital expenditure programme of an average of E450m per year for the period June 2009 to June 2012.
The contract represents the nineteenth satellite that Atrium will construct for Eutelsat and the tenth awarded in the past 18 months. The FSS operator’s first dedicated Ka-band satellite, KA-SAT, due to be delivered by Astrium later this year followed by Atlantic Bird 7 in 2011 and then W5A.
Meanwhile, fresh from announcing two new board members, the Abertis CEO Francisco Reynes and former Iliad finance chief Olivier Rozenfeld, Eutelsat has revealed another senior appointment. The company has named Andrew Wallace as its new chief commercial officer, where he will lead Eutelsat’s overall sales and marketing activities.
Wallace will replace Olivier Milliès-Lacroix who has been with Eutelsat since 1991. Eutelsat stated that Milliès-Lacroix is to leave the company this month to pursue other interests in the media and telecoms sectors
Prior to joining Eutelsat, Wallace was the marketing director at set-top-box developer Pace plc. He has also held a number of positions Cable & Wireless in its Paris, London and Singapore offices.
