Eutelsat Communications announced Tuesday its Atlantic Bird 4 satellite has gone into full commercial service at 7 degrees west longitude. Operating since 1998 as Hot Bird 4 from Eutelsat's geostationary neighborhood, the newly branded Atlantic Bird 4 was freed to initiate its new mission at 7 degrees west with the transfer on April 22 of broadcast clients to Hot Bird 7A.
Designed for consumer broadcasting, Eutelsat has optimized the satellite's high-power footprint to serve the Middle East and North Africa, enabling direct-to-home reception of digital services with domestic antennas aligned to the proper geostationary coordinates.
Atlantic Bird 4's commercial entry into service triggers the contract for capacity announced in September 2005 with Nilesat, the Egyptian satellite operator.
Nilesat's capacity on Atlantic Bird 4 equips it to boost development in dynamic broadcasting markets in the Middle East and North Africa in complement to the more than 300 television channels it already delivers through its Nilesat 101 and 102 satellites, also positioned at 7 degrees west.
Atlantic Bird 4 already has begun broadcasting its first 18 channels.
Capacity leased on the satellite by Noorsat, the Bahrain-based provider of capacity and video services, is expected to be activated for television broadcasting soon.
