Eutelsat has ceased operations of the transponders on Eutelsat-28A that use the disputed frequencies under a German filing.
The move was in response to the preliminary injunction by the regional civil court of Bonn that prohibited the satellite operator…
Eutelsat has ceased operations of the transponders on Eutelsat-28A that use the disputed frequencies under a German filing.
The move was in response to the preliminary injunction by the regional civil court of Bonn that prohibited the satellite operator from using the 500MHz of Ku-band spectrum at the 28.5E orbital slot from 4 October.
The frequencies will now be operated by SES, which plans to use the additional bandwidth to predominantly supply DTH services in the UK and Ireland from its 28.2E/28.5E orbital arc. The company currently has Astra 2F and Astra 1N located in the neighbourhood and will launch Astra 2E and Astra 2G to the position in late 2013 and 2014 respectively. At that point Astra 1N will be moved to its design location 19.2E.
The injunction was requested by Media Broadcast (MB), the German media service provider that signed an agreement with SES in 2005 giving the latter the right to use the frequencies effective 4 October 2013. MB had acquired the orbital rights when Deutsche Telekom transferred its satellite activity to the company in 2002.
The German telecoms incumbent had previously had an agreement with Eutelsat dating back to 1999 giving it the rights to use the 500MHz of bandwidth. When it became clear that SES was to utilise the orbital rights when they became effective, Eutelsat commenced arbitral proceedings against its peer in October 2012.
In its claim, Eutelsat pointed to both the 1999 agreement with Deutsche Telekom as well as an intersystem coordination agreement it had secured with SES in the same year.
In the first phase of the arbitral proceedings, the International Chamber of Commerce of Paris held that the 1999 intersystem coordination agreement did not bar SES from using the relevant frequency bands if and when Eutelsat no longer held the regulatory right to operate in them under the German filing. The preliminary injunction issued by the German regional court effectively did that.
Eutelsat said that it plans to appeal the court’s decision, while the second phase of the tribunal is ongoing and is likely to go into 2014.
Eutelsat stated that switching off the disputed transponders would mean the loss of approximately €20m in expected revenues for the fiscal year 2013-2014, and approximately €25m for each of the two following years.
A Eutelsat spokesperson said that the 500MHz of Ku-band transponders constituted two thirds of the capacity of Eutelsat-28A and was principally used for video traffic for the UK. They stated that it was not possible to use these transponders for any other purpose.
However, the remaining 250MHz of the satellite is held under a French filing and is still in operation. There are also no plans to move the satellite, which was formerly known as Eurobird-1.
