Eutelsat has requested arbitration proceedings against SES after accusing the satellite operator of breaching a 28.5E orbital slot agreement covering Western Europe.
According to Eutelsat, plans by SES to utilise the slot by acquiring rights from German…
Eutelsat has requested arbitration proceedings against SES after accusing the satellite operator of breaching a 28.5E orbital slot agreement covering Western Europe.
According to Eutelsat, plans by SES to utilise the slot by acquiring rights from German media service provider Media Broadcast (MB) violate a deal it secured back in 1999.
This deal, which aimed to coordinate operations at several orbital positions, was originally agreed with German telecoms incumbent Deutsche Telekom, which later transferred its satellite activity to MB in 2002.
But SES revealed recently that in 2005 it secured an agreement with MB to use Ku-band frequencies at 28.5E from 4 October 2013. The operator plans to launch a DTH satellite to the slot called Astra-2G next year.
Eutelsat currently operates its Eutelsat-28A satellite from 28.5E. However, SES alleges that Eutelsat’s rights to use the frequencies from the position expire on 3 October 2013. In addition, SES claims that because the rights MB is transferring were originally obtained from the German network infrastructure regulator Bundesnetzagentur, they have priority under ITU rules.
Eutelsat’s arbitration request was filed on 16 October with the International Chamber of Commerce in Paris. In April 2011, it commenced arbitration proceedings against Deutsche Telekom and MB, claiming it had the right to the frequencies beyond October 2013.
Specifically, the 28.5E frequencies that SES has agreed with MB to use concerns 500MHz in the 11.45-11.70GHz spectrum bands. In addition, the operator plans to use 12.50-12.75GHz in downlink and 14.00-14.50GHz in uplink spectrum.
SES already has satellites at the adjacent 28.2E slot, where it also plans to launch an additional satellite to use the new frequencies from October 2013, called Astra-2E.
