Satellite company SES has achieved total revenues of EUR1.36 billion for the first nine months of the year, up by 6.1% compared to the same period last year. On a constant FX basis, this figure was up by 1.6% despite the significant impact of the switch-off of analogue transmissions in Germany at the end of April.
The first nine months of 2012 also witnessed the successful launch of three satellites, two of which—SES-4 and SES-5—have now been brought into service. SES’ 52nd satellite, ASTRA 2F, was successfully launched on an Ariane 5 rocket on September 29 and will enter commercial service later this month. The satellite carries Ku- and Ka-band payloads for the delivery of high-performance DTH and next generation broadband services. For the third quarter, revenue increased by 8.7% to EUR467.7 million, benefiting from a stronger U.S. dollar.
Other financial highlights include a record high for contract backlog to EUR7.2 billion. Year-to-date, there has been a total of EUR1.3 billion of renewals and new contracts signed, including the 24-transponder long-term contract renewal by Canal+ and six-transponder contract renewal by the BBC.
