Eutelsat announced a multi-year contract with VIVACOM, a provider of telecom services in Bulgaria, for using C-band capacity on the EUTELSAT 8 West B satellite in order to expand its video business in Africa.

The strategy of VIVACOM is to provide contribution services for international channels seeking carriage by major African pay-TV operators.

Six channels are up-linking to EUTELSAT 8 West B from Bulgaria, using VIVACOM’s Plana teleport which is also one of Eutelsat’s partner teleports, certified under the World Teleport Association’s Teleport Certification Program.

Michel Azibert, chief commercial and development officer of Eutelsat, made the announcement at IBC in Amsterdam.

“Through our Plana teleport, we offer channels solutions for signal acquisition, encoding, encryption, uplink and downlink via satellite with excellent quality and reliability. This contract adds new value for our customers by giving them access to the African market,” said Vladimir Rangelov, senior manager Broadcasting services in VIVACOM.