EuropeStar, the Loral Global Alliance partner, 51 per cent owned by Alcatel Spacecom, is confident of beating the year-end deadline (when its reservation of its German- registered slot at 45 degrees East expires) with an Ariane launch of its first satellite, set for this coming autumn: September is the hoped-for liftoff month.

Each of the two 4150kg birds, with platforms by SS/Loral and payloads from Alcatel Spacecom, will carry thirty 36MHz transponders with 140 TWTAs, capable of generating high- power peams with 52-53 EIRP performance.

Five well-separated spotbeams will be offered, EuropeStar senior VP for Sales and Marketing said at Mediacast this week. These are: Europe, Mid-East (primarily Gulf states), India, South-East Asia and Southern Africa. Beam interconnectivity is the basis of the system, announced Kirchner. As distinct from “purely regional companies like Eutelsat”, and global operators such as Intelsat and New Skies, he believes that EuropeStar will offer the ideal inter-regional solution. It will provide capacity for broadcast material aimed at specific audiences (often ethnic or preferring a certain language) that are located outside their homelands. EuropeStar’s superior connectivity, and the ‘equal power for all beams’ policy, thinks Kirchner, will ensure this flexibility.

Multicasting will be the cornerstone of the company’s offering: its power will be totally adequate for DTH-type rooftop antennas. EuropeStar however plans to leave terminal provision to its partners. Point-to-point communications will not be the target market.

Operational flexibility will be available (fractional transponders, occasional use deals, SNG) as well as full-time network broadcasting.

It was interesting to note that Kirchner downplayed the need for a transatlantic link (though Orion is part of the Global Alliance). Fibre would most likely be used for Internet trunking where needed, he said, since he believes that Europe – especially London – will soon become primary Internet hubs and points-of-origin in their own right.