Eutelsat 21B enters commercial service

Eutelsat has announced the full entry into commercial service of its new Eutelsat 21B satellite at 21.5° East.

The transfer of all traffic from the Eutelsat 21A satellite was carried out overnight by Eutelsat’s control centre.

The new satellite offers increased bandwidth, with 40 Ku-band transponders compared with 29 on Eutelsay 21A.

Eutelsat 21A will be redeployed to 48° East where it will continue to provide full commercial service. The Eutelsat 70B satellite, launched on December 3, is currently undergoing in-orbit testing and is on track to enter service at 70.5° East in mid-January 2013.