Eutelsat W3B on track for October 28

Eutelsat’s new W3B satellite is on track for an October 28 launch on board an Ariane 5 launcher from Kourou in French Guiana. The Thales Alenia Space-built satellite will be positioned at 16° East to reinforce that position, offering coverage of central Europe and the Indian Ocean region, as well as providing bandwidth for telecom operators and ISPs in Africa.

W3B, which has 56 transponders deployed in four beams (two high-power beams for DTH in central Europe and the Indian Ocean, and two wide beams spanning Europe, North Africa the Middle East and central Asia for professional applications, and sub-Saharan Africa and the Indian Ocean for telecom and internet services respectively), will replace Eutelsat’s Eurobird 16, W2M and Sesat 1 satellites, all of which will be redeployed to new positions.

W3B will also allow interconnection between Africa and Europe via a combination of Ka-band frequencies in Europe and Ku-band frequencies in Africa.