The 36th meeting of the Advisory Committee (AC) of EUTELSAT IGO was held last 23 October in Paris, its first meeting since appointment of the new AC at the 39th Assembly of Parties (AP) in April. The Committee chose Piotr Dmochowski-Lipski of Poland to serve as its chair.
The meeting was attended by represented of all seven states with seats in the AC, i.e. France, Italy, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal (which took part simultaneously as chair of the Assembly of Parties (AP)), Spain and Switzerland. Croatia and Azerbaijan participated as observers.
The Parties were informed by executive secretary (ES) Christian Roisse of France that from March 2016 on Eutelsat SA will have a new chief executive officer (CEO), Rodolphe Belmer, who in December will start working as assistant to the current CEO, Michel de Rosen. The latter will continue in the company, though as non-executive chairman.
The EUTELSAT IGO ES reported on activities from the last AC meeting in February up to the present, especially regarding oversight of the company Eutelsat SA, which is monitored by the IGO and whose financial situation continues to ensure conditions that comply with the Basic Principles. One novelty worth noting is the partnership between Eutelsat SA and Facebook: they signed an agreement with Spacecom on future use of the AMOS-6 satellite’s capacity to increase internet access in Africa, a continent with a major broadband supply shortfall.
The ES informed the AC about the current shareholder structure of the Eutelsat group, which has not changed significantly since AP39. BPI France Participations (ex-FSI) is still the main shareholder, with 26.03 percent of the company. The Chinese sovereign wealth fund (China Investment Corporation (CIC)) is the second-ranked shareholder with a 6.84 percent stake. Nearly two thirds of Eutelsat’s shares are dispersed in the stock market.
The AC noted the financial results between July 2014 and June 2015, a year in which Eutelsat SA posted revenue of 1.476 billion euros for growth of 4 percent, in line with the goals set by the group. During the same period the margin of the company’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) remained stable at 76.7 percent, reflecting substantial profits on the order of 1.132 billion euros, with a 6.2 billion euro backlog. The company’s debt/EBITDA ratio continued to make progress and stood at 2.85:1 on 30 June of this year, below the 3.75:1 limit set in the letter-agreement signed on 2 September 2005 by the operator and the IGO. Video applications continue to originate most (63 percent) of the group’s revenue.
Michel Azibert, deputy CEO and head of the commercial and development section of Eutelsat SA represented the company at the meeting and as usual gave a presentation on its situation and financial results. He referred to the agreement signed last July by the Eutelsat group, the European Space Agency (ESA) and Airbus Defence and Space to develop the first software-driven satellite, the Eutelsat Quantum, adjustable to new commercial requisites and able to operate in any geography. By the end of the year the operator plans to launch two new satellites, as well as two satellites in 2016 and a new satellite in 2017. Eutelsat SA is wagering on developing markets where growth prospects are higher, namely in Africa, Latin America and, above all, Asia. The company is the top ranking European operator and the third worldwide; its current fleet comprises 39 geostationary satellites offering communication services to two-thirds of the planet’s population.
Regarding interference with Eutelsat satellites originating in the Middle East, the ES reported that the situation has improved significantly, except for a peak with origin in Ethiopia between May and June. This is due to better relations between the West and Iran and to measures adopted by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), and also to applications that prevent jamming, introduced in August following the launch of the Eutelsat 8 West B satellite and which will be extended to new satellites under development. For that reason, the company plans to start releasing these reports less regularly, on a half-year basis, if this trend continues.
Per a proposal from Poland and Luxembourg, which called for details to be specified in greater depth, the AC decided to discuss the structure of its report at its next session. Portugal and Switzerland had some reservations about the need for that revision; Portugal suggested that those two Parties should put forward a more specific proposal.
The next AC meeting has been scheduled for 18 March 2016.
