SPAIN’S Hispasat, owned by Telefonica and Retevision, has confirmed it is planning to enhance its coverage over Latin America and over Europe and North Africa. Hispasat 1C, scheduled to be launched next January, will double Hispasat’s capacity and will be targetted in particular at the Brazilian market, also in the sights of SES and Eutelsat. Hispasat, which recently redesigned its corporate identity, had a profit of Ptas3,905 million (Pounds 15.7 million) last year according to its president Fernando Lopez-Amor, a 74 per cent increase over the previous year.

Hispasat 1C will use the Spacebus 3000B2 platform. With a total of 24 transponders the 1C satellite will cost Ptas30,000 million, including construction, launch and insurance. The 1C satellite will be followed by the construction of Hispasat 1D. Hispasat has yet to decide on a manufacturer for the latter. However, construction of 1D is set to begin at the beginning of next year. Presently more than 14 million homes from Canada to Tierra de Fuego receive the Spanish public broadcaster RTVE’s programmes via Hispasat. Hispasat is also planning a new generation of ‘Serie 2’ multimedia satellites, starting with 1E, with steerable beams and Ka-band capacity.

Telefonica and Retevision compete in digital TV (Telefonica with Via Digital and Retevision with Onda Digital) and it has been speculated that Telefonica would like to withdraw from Hispasat (possible purchasers include Eutelsat). However, Lopez-Amor has denied this.