Satellite Today: In terms of FSS consolidation, you have recently been linked with Hellas-Sat in Greece? Can you comment any further on this?
Berretta: It is well known that we are open to external growth opportunities that complement our own activity, and Hellas-Sat could be a good fit. However, our main focus is on our organic growth driven by our ambitious program of seven launches from now to 2010. This new capacity will meet three fundamental objectives — renew capacity at a certain number of key orbital positions, enable some satellites to be relocated to other locations and increase in-orbit security, notably at the Hot Bird neighborhood, which generates 40 percent of revenues, and at 7 degrees East, which generates a further 10 percent of revenues.
Satellite Today: Would you expect to do more deals with telcos similar to your agreements with Swisscom and France Telecom? Do you expect other telcos to look more and more at satellite solutions and perhaps combine IP and DTH delivery?
Berretta: Yes, definitely. The role of satellite in high-speed digital environments is clearly asserted with that fact that Orange, the world-leading broadband TV operator, is using it to complete their coverage. What Orange is doing by proposing to deliver TV by satellite to the 50 percent of French homes not eligible to receive it via ADSL is a model for everyone else. There are similarities between Rupert Murdoch’s strategy and what Orange is doing to find creative solutions to develop triple play. BSkyB is a satellite TV player who acquired Easynet to add broadband to the mix while Orange, as a terrestrial player, is looking to achieve the same objective but is coming from the opposite direction. Swisscom’s choice of Tooway to meet their obligations of universal access to broadband across Swiss territory adds considerable credibility to our new consumer broadband service. It clearly demonstrates that Tooway can meet requirements to operate on a large scale, that it can satisfy the very exacting requirements of a national telco and provide consumers with a comparable broadband experience to ADSL.
Satellite Today: What are the main challenges for Eutelsat over the next year?
Berretta: We have a big launch program and want to benefit as soon as possible from this new capacity, as we are currently running at a more than 93 percent fill factor. One of the main challenges is on the launch side, with access to space a huge issue right now. The military effort in the United States is absorbing American launchers. There is huge pressure on Arianespace, high launch costs and not sufficient choice and flexibility for operators. Even for our company, which has planned well ahead, access to space at a reasonable price in the future is a big concern. We have taken the precaution of signing a number of launch contracts: three Ariane, two Sea Launch, two ILS (International Launch Services), which gives us flexibility for delivering our satellites into orbit and achieving our objectives of renewing and increasing capacity as well as raising in-orbit security.
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