Intelsat Taps Eutelsat to Boost Capacity Offerings

Eutelsat 10B satellite. Photo: Thales Alenia Space

Two of the world’s biggest operators have linked up in a major long-term multi-orbit partnership deal. Eutelsat has signed a multi-orbit agreement with Intelsat to enhance connectivity solutions over Europe, the Middle East, and the Pacific, including OneWeb services. The deal was announced March 9.

It is seven-year multi-million-euro capacity agreement with a progressive roll-out of assets over 2023, leveraging Eutelsat’s high-throughput satellites (HTS) in the Ku-band including the recently launched EUTELSAT 10B satellite and OneWeb’s constellation. As a result, Intelsat will be able to offer connectivity solutions for air, land and sea.

This deal cements a proposed deal previously announced on the EUTELSAT 10B satellite in October 2019 between Eutelsat and Gogo Commercial Aviation, acquired by Intelsat in 2020. The new capacity agreement adds OneWeb’s LEO solution to a larger portion of Eutelsat’s HTS GEO (Geostationary Orbit) assets (EUTELSAT 172B, the coming EUTELSAT 10B, and the future Flexsat), creating a hybrid offer that provides Intelsat with enhanced connectivity capacities.