Intelsat Finally Loses Satellite IS-33e After Problems Reported on October 19

(Ecofin Agency) – Intelsat has been facing multiple issues with its satellites in recent years. These recurring failures affect millions of customers.

Luxembourg-based satellite telecom provider Intelsat announced yesterday that its IS-33e satellite has ceased functioning following a power failure. This high-throughput satellite (HTS), designed by Boeing and positioned in geostationary orbit (GEO), experienced a critical failure that interrupted its communication services.

Intelsat reported that the incident occurred on October 19, affecting customers in Europe, Africa, and parts of the Asia-Pacific region.

“A Failure Review Board has been convened to complete a comprehensive analysis of the cause of the anomaly. Since the anomaly, Intelsat has been in active dialogue with affected customers and partners. Migration and service restoration plans are well underway across the Intelsat fleet and third-party satellites,” Intelsat said.

As a reminder, the IS-33e satellite has already faced issues before this incident. In 2017, just a year after its launch, it experienced problems due to two separate propulsion system failures. In 2019, Intelsat permanently lost its satellite Intelsat 29e due to a propulsion system failure that resulted in a propellant leak.

The loss of the IS-33e satellite comes just days after Intelsat launched a new satellite-based cellular service platform called “Intelsat CellBackhaul” at the Open Access Datacenter (WIOCC) in Lagos, Nigeria. This new service aims to enhance Nigeria’s connectivity infrastructure and benefit the wider African region.

Beyond Nigeria, Intelsat and its partners are also active in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, and Madagascar, where the company plays a crucial role in expanding mobile coverage and improving connectivity, especially in rural and remote areas. In Namibia, where Intelsat partners with Namibia Telecom, the loss of the satellite has led to a temporary interruption of fixed and mobile services (voice and data), a disruption reported by the operator on the day of the failure.

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