The satellite operator, Eutelsat Communications has ordered a new communications satellite Eutelsat 65 West A from the US-based manufacturer, Space Systems/Loral, which will be launched in early 2016. It will be located at the 65° West position where Eutelsat’s subsidiary, Eutelsat do Brasil Ltda. was granted frequencies in C, Ku and Ka-bands by ANATEL, the Brazilian telecommunications regulatory authority, in June 2013. The tri-band communcations payload configuration was reportedly chosen for its growth potential across Latin America, especially in respet of the 2016 Olympic Games which are being hosted by Brazil.
The satellite’s communicatoons payload is described in a press release as:
- 10 transponders in the C-band (54 MHz bandwidth) with performance peaking over western parts of Brazil from Belem in the North to Porto Alegre in the South.
- 24 transponders in the Ku-band (36 MHz) connected to two service areas: one exclusively for Brazil, peaking over the most populated cities along the coastline and over Manaus, and a second optimised for Spanish-speaking Latin America, from the Caribbean to Patagonia.
- Up to 24 Ka-band spotbeams designed to serve the most populated urban and suburban parts of Brazil and able to serve cities on the Pacific coastline and in Central America, according to market requirements.
