European
satellite service provider Eutelsat is planning a December launch of its KA-SAT
bird, which it is billing as Europe's first High-Throughput Satellite. When
KA-SAT goes into service in the spring of 2010, it will allow Eutelsat to boost
the speeds of its Tooway consumer broadband service to 10 megabytes per second
for downloads and 4 Mbps for uploads.
Those
increased speeds would allow for the transmission of high quality video and
strengthen the competitive position of satellite delivered broadband against
the higher speeds being increasingly offered by cable and DSL providers. More
than 60 distributors in 30 countries already provide Eutelsat's Tooway
broadband service in Europe.
Also at
IBC, Eutelsat will be focusing on its HDTV and 3D services. It is already
handling distribution for over 150 HD channels and it is expecting to handle
500 within five years.
In
addition to its 3D demo channel, Eutelsat has handled a number of 3D
transmissions, including the launch of Orange's La 3D channel, and such 3D
events as Six Nations Rugby, the FIFA World Cup, and French and U.S. Open
tennis.
To help
handle these bandwidth-intensive services, Eutelsat has seven new satellites in
construction and scheduled for launch in the next three years, including the
W3B, which is scheduled for launch at the end of October 2010 at 16 degrees east.
It is designed to increase capacity for digital TV in Central and Eastern
Europe.
