The 32nd meeting of the Advisory Committee (AC) of the European Telecommunications Satellite Organisation (EUTELSAT IGO) was held last 29 November in Paris, where Laura Pérez Martos of Spain was reappointed to the AC chair.
The meeting was attended by all AC member states, i.e. by Croatia, France, Luxembourg, Poland, Spain and Switzerland, as well as a new member, Turkey. Portugal took part as an observer and simultaneously as chair of the Assembly of Parties (AP).
The executive secretary (ES) of EUTELSAT IGO, Christian Roisse of France, reported on activities since the last Committee meeting in March, especially regarding supervision of the company Eutelsat, whose financial situation continues to ensure fulfilment of the Basic Principles; the IGO is responsible for monitoring this.
In the financial year from July 2012 to June 2013 the Eutelsat group posted revenue of 1.284 billion euros, for growth of 5.1 percent. Three new satellites were launched during that period. The company’s debt/EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) ratio stood at 1.9:1, well below the 3.75:1 limit set in the Letter-Agreement signed on 2 September 2005 by the operator and the IGO. Note that the subsidiary Eutelsat Madeira, situated in a free zone, has been targeted by news reports indicating that French tax authorities seek an additional tax payment of 27 million euros. The ES believes the amount should be negotiated so that both parties can reach an understanding.
The Committee examined results from the July 2012-June 2003 financial year compared to what was budgeted, including the October 2012 mid-term review (CC30) and noted that spending was within budget limits. The ES reported that negotiations will soon begin with the company to increase its financing of the IGO for a five-year period.
In his report, the executive secretary also stressed that the European Commission was expected to eventually cancel the licence of Solaris Mobile (joint venture between Eutelsat and SES Astra) to offer mobile satellite services (MSS) in the so-called S band if operations do not begin by the end of this year.
The AC discussed the ES’s request for EUTELSAT IGO to join as an observer the Regional Commonwealth in the Field of Communications (RCC), comprising Russia and states from the former USSR, and for that participation to be delegated to the company. But the Committee considered that Eutelsat should only join the IGO delegation with a precise and predetermined mandate, delegated to a representative but not the company. The matter should also be discussed at the next Assembly of Parties (AP).
Eutelsat was represented at one of the meeting’s working lunches. The CEO and assistant chair, Michel Azibert, stressed the company’s good results, despite posting lower profits compared to the previous year. He also underscored that total acquisition of the Mexican satellite operator Satmex, which should be completed by the end of the year, would make Eutelsat a truly “global operator”, even in oceanic connections, with an increasing presence in emerging markets, namely Russia, Central Asia, Africa, Asia/Pacific and Latin America. Exceptions to the global coverage are only Greenland and some regions of Canada. Regarding interference originating in the Middle East which affects company satellites, he said that the situation had improved slightly, although jamming events intensified in July and August, this time allegedly coming from Bahrain and Tajikistan.
In the wake of the decision from AP 38 last May, the Committee began to review the rules of procedure concerning the AC’s mandate and selection. Note that the current Advisory Committee exceptionally comprises seven parties, not the usual six. France defended that ‘notifying administration’ status should imply a fixed mandate in the AC. Portugal proposed extending a formal framing not to that figure, which exists before the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) but not in the EUTELSAT Convention, but rather to ‘depositary’ or ‘host-country’. Portugal also suggested that the rotation principle (defining a seniority criterion of the ‘first in – first out’ type) and maximum of two observers per meeting should be framed in the rules of procedure. Poland asked for information about the background of each country in the AC. The secretariat should also draw up a draft revision of texts currently in force which concern the Committee.
The next AC meeting has been scheduled for 28 April 2014.
