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Satnews Daily
April 7th, 2019

Forrester Reports: Eutelsat Interested in IoT Satellite Constellation


Chris Forrester has posted information at the Advanced Television infosite that reveals  a surprise change of heart for Eutelsat... the company now states they will back a constellation of about 10 LEO Internet of Things (IoT) satellites in an initial fleet.

Eutelsat CEO Rodolphe Belmer, addressing a Paris conference, said his company will extend the single ‘test’ satellite already being built with the expectation of a launch later in 2019. He said that the move to expand the number of low orbiting satellites would help mitigate the steady decline in traditional video revenues.


Journalist Chris Forrester.

Rodolphe Belmer.

Belmer warned that the introduction of 5G technologies would only exacerbate the “digital divide” for consumers and lead to greater demand for alternate technologies and the prospect for satellite emerging as a key technology provider.

Eutelsat’s new initiative, called ‘Eutelsat LEO for Objects: ELO’ is reportedly using an existing partnership with France-based Sigfox, a provider of IoT services.