Intelsat 33e, Intelsat’s second HTS satellite. Photo: Intelsat

[Via Satellite 10-27-2016] Intelsat and Global Eagle Entertainment (GEE) have entered into a new and expanded contract. Under the multi-year contract, global service will use C- and Ku-band services on eight satellites in Intelsat’s current mobility infrastructure as well as two Intelsat Epic satellites, Intelsat 33e and Intelsat 35e. Overall, GEE now has contracted satellite services on three out of the seven planned Intelsat Epic satellites, and on 17 Intelsat satellites in total.

Earlier this year, Intelsat successfully launched Intelsat 29e and Intelsat 33e, the first two satellites in its next-generation, High Throughput Satellite (HTS) platform, Intelsat Epic. Since late March, new and existing networks have transitioned to Intelsat 29e, with Intelsat reporting that customers are experiencing up to 165 percent improvements in efficiency.