Eutelsat Communications reported a 5.4 percent increase in revenues to 791.1 million euros ($998.1 million) in its 2006 fiscal year, the company announced July 20.

Video applications improved 3.4 percent to 528.6 million euros ($670 million) and represented 66.8 percent of Eutelsat’s total revenues. The growth was driven by an increase in the number of channels broadcast from 1,712 in the 2005 fiscal year, which closed June 30, 2005, to 2,121 at the end of June 2006.

Data services contributed 139.2 million euros ($175.6 million) in revenues. Value-added services posted the largest percentage growth for Eutelsat, improving 22.4 percent to 29.9 million euros ($37.7 million) due to the ongoing deployment of the company’s D-Star service, which provides Internet access and virtual private networks. Sales of D-Star terminals jumped 29 percent throughout the last 12 months.

“This performance highlights the quality of the execution of our strategy: to consolidate our leading position in European Union countries, and to optimize use of capacity through the creation and development of major new video positions and the continued expansion of value added services,” Giuliano Berretta, Eutelsat’s CEO, said in a statement. “… With a growing portfolio of activities across our markets, Eutelsat reaffirms its profile as one of the leading operators in the most profitable sectors of the industry, combining long-term visibility and growth.”