Eutelsat pulled down by ongoing decline in broadcast

Satellite operator Eutelsat’s declining broadcast business continued to drag its top line down in its fiscal third quarter.

Total Q3 revenues stood at €272 million, down 5.2% on a reported basis and by 7.5% like-for-like.

Third quarter broadcast revenues ran to €157 million, down 10.6% year-on-year. A deterioration compared to Q2 reflected the full effect of the non-renewal of a contract with Turkish pay TV operator Digitürk, as well as lower revenues in Europe. However, it was also impacted by sanctions against Russian and Iranian channels.

Revenues in the fourth quarter are expected to further slightly decrease compared to the third quarter on the back of lower volumes in Europe.

Eutelsat’s order backlog stood at €3.5 billion as of 31 March versus €4.0 billion a year ago, and €3.7 billion at end-December 2022, reflecting the absence of major broadcast renewals this quarter.

Data and professional video revenues stood at €38 million, down by 7.3% year-on-year.

In fixed data, improved volume trends partly offset the negative impact of competitive pressure, while professional video revenues were down due to the phasing of a specific contract, as well as seasonality in occasional use.

Third Quarter Government Services revenues stood at €31 million, down 13.4% year-on-year

On the brighter side, fixed broadband revenues stood at €19 million, up 7.3% year-on-year on a like-for-like basis, and mobile connectivity revenues stood at €27 million, up 23.0% year-on-year.

Overall revenues for the first nine months of FY 2022-23 stood at €846 million, down by 1.5% on a reported basis and by 6.6% at constant currency and perimeter.

Eutelsat also said that LEO outfit OneWeb’s Gen-1 constellation is on track to reach global coverage by the end of this year