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MUMBAI:
European satellite operator Eutelsat has reported results
for the first half ended 31 December, 2007.
Revenues
went up marginally from 415.3 million euros to 429.4 million.
Net income went up from 79.9 million Euros to 94.7 million.
Eutelsat
chairman and CEO Giuliano Berretta said, "Our financial
and operational performance for this first half-year highlight
once again the exceptional attraction of our satellite neighbourhoods
and our ability to capitalise on digital broadcasting and
broadband services which are the two most dynamic activities
in the Fixed Satellite Services sector.
"
Up by 10.2 per cent, Video Applications grew across each of
our geographical markets: in Europe, as shown by the remarkable
success of our new video neighbourhood at 9 degrees East,
and also in Russia, the Middle East and in Africa. Broadcasting
almost 3,000 television channels, of which more than 1,100
from our Hot Bird neighbourhood, our Group has consolidated
its leadership as the number one satellite operator in Europe.
Value Added Services, which show revenue growth of 13.6 per
cent, also confirmed their rapid development, driven by broadband
services for enterprises and local communities.
"
This commercial success and the very favourable outlook for
our markets lead us to revise upward our financial objectives
for the current fiscal year.
" We have also decided to expand our investment programme
with the addition of a seventh satellite to our launch programme
to the end of 2010. The W3B satellite is aimed at consolidating
the success of our 7 degrees East neighbourhood, which already
broadcasts 200 channels. To be co-positioned with W3A, it
will increase the volume of capacity available at this neighbourhood
by almost 50 per cent and provide sparing for W3A.
"The period was also marked by the contract awarded to
EADS Astrium for the KA-SAT satellite which was announced
in October 2007. KA-SAT's innovative design will be the cornerstone
of a new satellite and ground infrastructure linking over
80 of the satellite's spotbeams to a network of eight gateways
connected to the Internet backbone.
"This
technological initiative will drive consumer satellite broadband
services in Europe and in the Mediterranean Basin to new frontiers
and also opens a resource for local and regional television.
KA-SAT is expected to generate annual revenues of approximately
100 million euros on average beyond fiscal year 2011-2012."
Revenue
growth was driven by growth of Video Applications (10.2 per
cent) as Eutelsat continues to prioritise video in the allocation
of available capacity; excellent performance of Value Added
Services (13.6 per cent) for broadbandmarkets. Benefiting
from this capacity allocation policy, the share of Video Applications
in the revenue mix rose to 74.4 per cent, up from 71.7 per
cent, excluding non-recurring revenues.
Thanks
to the optimisation of the Group's satellite deployment plan
during the preceding fiscal year, operational transponders
(10) increased by 26 units since 31 December 2006. The strong
commercial dynamic enabled the lease of 33 additional transponders,
taking the fleet's average fill rate to 84.6 per cent till
31 December, 2007.
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