Eutelsat 31A, formerly e-Bird, Eurobird 3 and Eutelsat 33A, is a

communications satellite A communications satellite is an artificial satellite that relays and amplifies radio telecommunication signals via a transponder; it creates a communication channel between a source transmitter and a receiver at different locations on Earth. C ...

that offers capacity for broadband and broadcast services in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

. It is owned by

Eutelsat Eutelsat S.A. is a French satellite operator. Providing coverage over the entire European continent, the Middle East, Africa, Asia and the Americas, it is the world's third-largest satellite operator in terms of revenues. Eutelsat's satellit ...

. Positioned at 31° East - having been relocated from 33° East in May 2014 - Eutelsat 31A is optimised for interactive broadband services, and also valued by broadcasters for occasional use and professional video services, and data networks like Estar by

Technologie Satelitarne Technologie Satelitarne is a satellite Internet service provider from Poland. The project offered by Technologie Satelitarne is broadband Internet access in areas with poor telecommunications infrastructure. They offer two-way Ku band broadband sat ...

service. Its 20 K_u band transponders are connected to four spot beams over Europe and Turkey. These four beams overlap to allow hubs located in the hot spots of each beam to communicate with each other, thus ensuring highly effective pan-European coverage.

References

Communications satellites in geostationary orbit Spacecraft launched in 2003 Satellites using the HS-376 bus Eutelsat satellites Ariane commercial payloads {{turkey-stub