August 26, 2016 – Intelsat 33e, the second of seven planned Intelsat EpicNG high-throughput satellites, has been launched successfully from French Guiana aboard an Ariane 5 launch vehicle, and signal acquisition has been confirmed.
Intelsat 33e, manufactured by Boeing, will bring high-throughput capacity in both C- and Ku-band to the Africa, Europe, Middle East and Asia regions from 60°E. The satellite will join Intelsat 29e, the first Intelsat EpicNG satellite, which was launched in January 2016 over the Americas and North Atlantic Ocean region, to form a high-throughput overlay to Intelsat’s fleet of enterprise-grade, wide-beam satellites.
Intelsat claims that the 33e is equipped with the sector’s most advanced digital payload on a commercial spacecraft, and the satellite combines wide beams and spot beams with frequency re-use technology. The digital payload enables customers to shift capacity to match their usage needs in a particular region or timeframe. Intelsat EpicNG is optimized to provide satellite connectivity for applications including the Internet of Things, enterprise, wireless infrastructure, aeronautical and maritime mobility and government, which are expected to provide a combined US$3.3 billion incremental industry-wide revenue opportunity between 2015-2021.
Stephen Spengler, CEO of Intelsat stated, “Our first high-throughput satellite, Intelsat 29e, is already in service and exceeding our customers’ expectations in the Americas. With Intelsat 33e, customers operating in EMEA and the Asia Pacific regions will now be able to leverage Intelsat EpicNG’s differentiated capabilities and greater efficiencies to grow their businesses and deliver enhanced value to their customers.”
Spengler continued, “Intelsat 33e and the Intelsat EpicNG architecture are fully backwards compatible and interoperable with Intelsat’s existing satellite fleet and terrestrial infrastructure. This allows customers to cost-efficiently use currently deployed network hardware so that they can have immediate access to high-performance connectivity. Intelsat 33e also brings us one step closer to providing the first global, fully interoperable wide beam and high-throughput Ku-band broadband service. We remain on schedule to launch the remaining five Intelsat EpicNG satellites. The 2018 launch of our Horizons 3e satellite will complete our global coverage, adding the Pacific Ocean region.”
