Eutelsat, SES Global To Develop Mobile Broadcasting Service

SES Global and Eutelsat plan to invest 130 million euros ($165.3 million) to develop a mobile broadcasting satellite service for Europe, the companies announced Oct. 30.

The joint venture will develop and operate a commercial S-band payload that will be placed on the W2A satellite, being built by Alcatel Alenia Space. W2A was ordered by Eutelsat in September, is scheduled for launch in 2009, and is designed primarily to provide communication services to Europe, North Africa and the Middle East.

"Through a resource, which is optimized in terms of bandwidth and universal coverage, satellite services using S-band frequencies can make a vital contribution to the overall success of the mobile broadcasting market while the design of the S-band payload is also fully suited for two-way communications," said Giuliano Berretta, chairman and CEO of Eutelsat, in a statement. "By adding this new payload to a platform using our traditional set of Ku-band and C-band frequencies it has also been possible to put in place an efficient and cost-effective solution for entering a new frequency band."

The new S-band payload for W2A will allow the first delivery of mobile multimedia broadcast services directly to mobile devices, including phones, PDAs and laptop computers. Other potential uses for S-band include security surveillance and two-way communications.

"This joint investment will allow for the development of new, innovative satellite-delivered mobile broadcast services, thereby enabling satellite to compete with, as well as to complement, terrestrial infrastructure solutions in the mobile television and radio distribution chain," said Romain Bausch, president and CEO of SES Global, in a statement.