Page 20 - AIB | The Chanel | Issue 1 2013

Of the
175m
households
across
Africa only
4.4m
receive
pay-TV
“
AFRICAOPENINGUP
Eutelsat Deputy CCO
Francesco Cataldo
says the Eutelsat 70B
satellite, the latest in
Eutelsat’s fleet, is a
powerful tool for
opening up Africa - its
footprint connects the
continent to Europe,
Asia, and Australia. On
the ground, Eutelsat is
actively encouraging a
new generation of
African engineers and
technicians by
'Creating space for
African ideas' with the
DStv Eutelsat Star
Awards. So what are
the prospects for new
business?
20 | ISSUE 1 2013 | THE CHANNEL
he vast majority of
our satellites have
strong reach over
Africa, putting us
in an excellent
position to develop
new business from
our existing orbital locations. We
cover sub‐Saharan Africa with eight
satellites. Two positions stand out
for DTH: 36° East for English and
Portuguese speaking countries and
16° East for the Indian Ocean
region and progressively for
Francophone parts of Africa. Our
last baby is the Eutelsat 70B satellite
which we launched in December –
it includes a fixed beam over Africa
which will provide additional
capacity.
Our investment in satellites to
serve the African market has grown
significantly. We started over 15
years ago with our first satellite
mainly providing internet
backbone connectivity. Then we
went into DTH using 360 East
occupied since 2000 by the Eutelsat
36A satellite which very quickly
attracted the DStv platform of
MultiChoice Africa as a key
customer. In 2002, we added C‐
band coverage to our resources,
giving us full pan‐African reach for
the first time. We plan to continue
our investments ‐ by 2015 we
should have 50% more resources
than we have today for African
markets.
Which business segments are key?
The video market is the biggest part
of our business. Our satellites are
broadcasting 700 channels today for
Africa which represents over 50%
of the 1,300 satellite TV channels
available across the continent. The
number of channels broadcasting
through our satellites for Africa
grew by 18% from July 2011 to June
2012, reflecting some of the highest
growth across out fleet.
Where does the growth come
from?
MultiChoice Africa that reaches
subscribers from the Gulf of Guinea
to Zimbabwe through Eutelsat is
our longstanding broadcast client.
They have almost doubled their
requirements over the last 10 years
and are still expanding. If you look
at the 175m households across
Africa, only 4.4m today are
receiving pay‐TV. There is
significant headroom for growth,
T