Eutelsat’s CEO Jean-François Fallacher has announced that the satellite operator has cancelled FlexSat, a geostationary satellite that was to be positioned to serve the Americas.

Eutelsat has cancelled procurement of Flexsat Americas, after a review of the business case. Flexsat was a software-defined satellite Eutelsat ordered from Thales Alenia Space in 2022. This will save €100 million in future CapEx according to CFO Sébastien Rouge.

“We didn’t see a viable business case,” Fallacher told investors. “The return was going much further down [in the] 2030s with Flexsat America, linked to the fact that we see more new LEO constellations coming. We decided to cancel now on an amicable basis the construction of this GEO satellite.”

The move means that Eutelsat has no orders in place for geostationary satellites other than a joint-venture craft for Thaicom.

The Flexsat Americas satellite was originally to launch this year, but had already been delayed to 2028.

Fallacher added: “Let’s remind that when we look at our fleet of 34 GEO satellites, we have a big number of Video GEO satellites. So, these satellites have a long life duration.”

Eutelsat’s half-yearly results, issued on February 13, showed that company is pivoting from geostationary activity – which is slowly declining – to its low Earth orbiting fleet of OneWeb satellites where growth in revenue is significant.

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Categories: Articles, Business, Satellite

Tags: americas, eutelsat, GEO, satellite