The 35th meeting of the Advisory Committee (AC) of the European Telecommunications Satellite Organisation (EUTELSAT IGO) was held last 19-20 February in Paris, chaired by the organisation’s executive secretary (ES), Christian Roisse of France, due to the absence of its chair, Laura Pérez Martos of Spain.
The gathering was attended by most states on the AC, i.e. Croatia, France, Luxembourg, Poland and Switzerland. Portugal took part as an observer and at the same time as chair of the Assembly of Parties (AP). Armenia likewise attended as an observer. Besides Spain, Turkey was also unable to be present, for technical reasons.
The ES reported on activities that have taken place from the last Committee meeting in October up to the present and especially on supervision of the company Eutelsat, whose financial situation continues to assure conditions enabling compliance with the Basic Principles. The IGO is responsible for monitoring the company.
The Committee analysed the ES’s proposal to present to the upcoming April Assembly of Parties (AP39), concerning the budgets for financial years July 2015/June 2016 and July 2016/June 2017. Note that the Eutelsat company’s financing of the EUTELSAT IGO intergovernmental organisation will rise after July 2015 from 900,000 to 1.2 million euros annually; the company has already agreed to that increase. The July 2016/June 2017 financial budget includes an exit bonus to assign to the ES, which he justified as being usual practice for both his predecessor and the United Nations system, and a bonus for the secretariat’s administrator, who should retire in 2017, though her work contract has meanwhile been extended for two years.
Per a proposal from Luxembourg and Poland, about which Switzerland and Portugal raised some reservations, it was decided that the AC would recommend to the AP analysis of the possibility of a 3-month overlap period in July 2017, to ensure a smooth transition between the current ES and the one to be elected.
The ES informed the Committee about the Eutelsat group’s current shareholder structure. In December 2014 China’s CIC sovereign wealth fund, the second biggest shareholder, sold a small part of its shares to Eutelsat’s biggest shareholder, BPI France Participations (ex-FSI - now holds 26.03 percent of the company). The Chinese now hold 6.84 percent. Nearly two thirds of Eutelsat’s shares are on the so-called floating market.
In the first half of the financial year (July thru December 2014), the Eutelsat group posted revenue of 722.8 million euros, corresponding to 4.3 percent growth, in line with the goals set by the group. During that period, the company’s EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) reflected major profits on the order of 560 million euros. The company’s debt/EBITDA ratio improved to stand at 2.95:1, below the 3.75:1 limit set in the Letter-Agreement signed on 2 September 2005 by the operator and the IGO.
Eutelsat deputy CEO Michel Azibert represented the company at the meeting and as usual gave a presentation on its situation and financial results. The operator plans to launch five satellites in 2015 and two more by 2017. This year a satellite with electric propulsion will be launched for the first time, a technology that may lower launching costs (between 35 percent and 40 percent of a satellite’s total cost) by 20 percent, besides increasing the respective lifespan. He also asked the AC to notify the other Parties about the need for protection of the C band and satellite services by Region B of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) at the next World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-15), to be held in November.
Regarding interference of Eutelsat satellites originating in the Middle East, the ES reported that the situation had worsened again since his last report in September 2014, particularly in Ethiopia and Libya. In January 2015 there were 37 jamming occurrences lasting a total of 2572 minutes.
In the wake of a decision by the last Assembly of Parties (AP38), the committee revised the rules of procedure for its own mandate and functions, based on a proposal submitted by the secretariat. Luxembourg and Portugal put forward various proposals for editorial comments and improvements to the text. It was decided that one month before each AP begins the secretariat will send a request for candidacies to the AC; the Parties should submit the respective candidacies to the committee two weeks before that gathering. One week beforehand the secretariat will again inform the states about the candidates to join the committee, to enable national preparation in that area.
The committee approved its own report about its activity in this two-year term, which should be presented to AP39.
The next AC meeting has been scheduled for October 2015 (the 23rd or 26th, to be confirmed after the AP is held and the new AC elected).
