Eutelsat Multimedia Director Arduino Patachinni, who also serves as chairman of the board of directors at Skylogic, believes the operator’s recent deal with ChinaSatcom could lead to more opportunities for the company in China.

The operator is delighted with its deal with ChinaSatcom. Patachinni told Satellite News, “ChinaSatcom is the first step for Eutelsat and Skylogic into the Chinese market, which we believe presents excellent opportunities for broadcast and broadband services. ChinaSatcom is a major partner for Skylogic because it is already operating its own teleport facilities near Beijing, which will equip them to serve enterprises in China through access to our satellite capacity on W5 as well as through capacity on Chinese satellites. ChinaSatcom will be our Chinese partner for turnkey deployment of VSAT broadband services.”

The partnership between China-Satcom and Skylogic will create a two-way broadband network to connect businesses, trade and government agencies. In terms of the significance of the deal, Patachinni said, “The importance of this deal is that it is oriented toward service provision, managed jointly with ChinaSatcom through a preferred partnership approach. This could open to us and to ChinaSatcom a very large market for providing broadband connectivity to European companies with affiliates or partner companies in China. At the same time, it opens the possibility for us to extend our reach through capacity on Chinese satellites operated by ChinaSat, and also to extend reach for ChinaSat who will be able to access Eutelsat capacity.”

The various parties recently signed the partnership deal in Beijing, China, and commercial services are likely to be launched by the end of May.

“We plan to have defined with ChinaSatcom the commercial aspects of the services to be offered by the end of January. Our aim is to be ready for commercial services by the end of May,” Patachinni said.

ChinaSatcom is one of six basic telecoms operators in China. It offers services in communications, broadcasting and other fields; satellite mobile communication services; VSAT services; audio, data and multimedia services based on satellite transmission technology.

Revenue Potential

The launch of services in the middle of 2005 means it is difficult to assess the potential revenue growth from the deal. Patachinni said, “We think there is very promising revenue potential because there are already 10,000 European companies who are working in China and the prospects for increased trade between Europe and China are clearly increasing.”

However, while it may take time before the partnership brings in strong revenues, the deal is clearly a major coup for Eutelsat. The opportunities for satellite communications in China, are huge and Eutelsat is now in a great position to be part of this. Patachinni said, “Even though there is quite good terrestrial telecommunications connectivity in larger urban areas, it is not possible for all regions to be served through terrestrial networks.

He continued, “In terms of television, there are more than 3,000 television channels in China and 400 million television households. By virtue of its landmass and population, China is probably the largest untapped international satellite television market in the world. In the broadcast market, however, we see the immediate potential lying with television transport from China into Europe in order to reach expatriate audiences.”

Patachinni believes the deal highlights the unique strengths of its satellite broadband IP platform. He said, “Skylogic’s main activity is to provide satellite broadband services. The Skylogic teleport in Turin is now equipped with seven antennas to serve users in Europe, Africa, Asia and the Americas. It is one of the biggest satellite hubs in the world in terms of connectivity potential for IP broadband services.”

–Mark Holmes

(Vanessa O’Connor, Eutelsat, e-mail, [email protected])