VIA SATELLITE: Are you confident that there will be demand for Ka-Sat capacity?
Berretta: In the build-up to Ka-Sat, which will be launched at the end of 2010, we are using Ka-band capacity on Hot Bird 6 and Ku-band capacity on Eurobird 3 to develop the market and build relationships with service providers across Europe, which include telcos, ISPs, retailers and specialist satellite service providers. This is an important phase for building awareness of our Tooway product and preparing the ground for the mass-market scale that will come with Ka-Sat. With this progressive approach we aim to be generating 100 million euros ($143 million) of revenues from this satellite by the fiscal year 2013-2014.
VIA SATELLITE: How has the credit crunch impacted Eutelsat’s business?
Berretta: Whereas the broadcasting industry has come under pressure from reduced advertising income, pay-TV clients across our main markets in Europe and Africa have continued to ramp up and diversify their offer of channels and services. … Our main challenge has actually been to increase capacity as quickly and as efficiently as possible. At the end of the first half of our financial year we were operating with a fill factor of 97 percent, which by definition impacted on our scope for flexibility. With the launches of Hot Bird 9, Hot Bird 10 and W2A and the subsequent redeployment of five satellites already in-orbit, our fill rate by the end of June was down to a more reasonable 88 percent. This gives us more headroom for maneuvering and takes us closer to our preferred fill factor in the range of 80 percent.
VIA SATELLITE: Have your capital expenditure plans changed as a result?
Berretta: Our conviction is that we should maintain investment in order to be in a strong position to capture market opportunities as the economy improves. We consequently see no reason to change our capital expenditure plans and are holding steady to our current active policy, with capital expenditure averaging 450 million euros ($643.7 million) a year for the period June 2009 to June 2012.
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