EUTELSAT KONNECT will be the 34th Eutelsat satellite launched by Arianespace since its first mission for this operator, which deployed EUTELSAT-1 F1 in 1983.
Eutelsat Communications is established in Paris, with offices and teleports located around the globe. Eutelsat provides capacity on nearly 40 satellites to clients that include broadcasters and broadcasting associations, pay-TV operators, video, data and internet service providers, enterprises and government agencies.
Once in orbit, EUTELSAT KONNECT will offer total capacity of 75 Gbps and by next autumn will allow the operator to provide Internet access services for companies and individuals alike at up to 100 Mbps. The satellite will help to fight against the digital divide by bringing broadband Internet across 40 countries in Africa and 15 countries across Europe.
In Africa, EUTELSAT KONNECT also will, through the establishment of public Wi-Fi terminals, share Internet access between several users, marketed in the form of coupons that can be paid via mobile phone.
The new EUTELSAT KONNECT satellite features all-electric propulsion and operates in Ka-band. It is the first to use Thales Alenia Space’s all-electric Spacebus NEO platform, developed under the Neosat Partnership Project conducted by the European and French space agencies (ESA and CNES). More robust, more modular, more powerful, more innovative, more flexible, this platform is perfectly adapted to operators’ expectations in the evolving telecommunication market, and particlularly well positioned for very demanding VHTS missions.
EUTELSAT KONNECT will allow the in-orbit validation of the complete end-to-end system of the new Spacebus Neo product line, including the fully-electric orbit-raising phase.