• Intelsat, a satellite-based communications provider, announced a service outage on the Intelsat 33e satellite on October 19, 2024, affecting customers in Europe, Africa, and parts of the Asia-Pacific region.

• However, it has yet to issue a notice on the restoration of the satellite, even after 48 hours. Moreover, it stated that based on the information available, they believe it is unlikely that the satellite will be recoverable.

• The anomaly on the satellite resulted in a loss of power and disruption of service to customers. Intelsat said they are working with Boeing, the satellite manufacturer, to address the situation.

IS-33e, designed and manufactured by Boeing Space Systems, was launched in August 2016 and entered service in January 2017. Announcing the outage, Intelsat said, “While we assess our fleet’s capacity as well as work with third-party providers to mitigate service interruptions, Intelsat representatives are in direct communication with all affected customers.”

This is not the first time Intelsat satellites have suffered damage and eventual loss. In 2019, Intelsat’s 29e satellite, also built by Boeing, suffered a propulsion system anomaly that resulted in a propellant leak.

Intelsat mentioned that while working to recover the satellite, a second anomaly occurred, after which all efforts to recover the satellite were unsuccessful. 

Intelsat’s latest outage on IS-33e comes just days after it unveiled a new satellite cellular backhaul service platform in Nigeria to enhance Nigeria and Africa’s connectivity infrastructure. Intelsat CellBackhaul Nigeria aims to support mobile network operators (MNOs) and internet service providers (ISPs) in Nigeria and West Africa.

“The new Nigeria solution will be added to the existing platforms in several other African countries, delivering services to millions of people across thousands of cell towers,” Intelsat says.

As of November 2023, Intelsat, in collaboration with Africa Mobile Networks (AMN), reportedly deployed more than 3,000 rural base satellite antennas across several countries in Africa since 2018, reaching more than 8 million people.

At the time, the companies were planning additional operations in Madagascar, Rwanda, and the DRC. Moreover, AMN’s largest network is in Nigeria.