Eutelsat 7 West A has two beams giving superior coverage across the Middle-East, including the Gulf States, as well as North Africa and North-West Africa.

Located at 7° West and part of the leading Eutelsat-Nilesat 7/8° West video neighbourhood, the satellite broadcasts television and radio programmes in the Middle-East and North Africa.

Eutelsat 7 West A significantly increased the Ku-band coverage at this position and is co-located with NileSat-102 and NileSat-201 from Eutelsat’s partner, satellite operator Nilesat from Egypt. NileSat is leasing capacity on Eutelsat 7 West A and is branding under NileSat-104. Within the framework of this collaboration the two companies have agreed to jointly brand 7° West as the “NILEBIRD” neighbourhood.

The satellite was originally ordered as Atlantic Bird 7 and has been constructed by EADS Astrium (Airbus Defense & Space). In March 2012 Eutelsat renamed its assets under a unified brand name. Atlantic Bird 7 became Eutelsat 7 West A.

The satellite was launched on September 24th, 2011 on a Zenit 3SLB rocket from the Odyssey Launch Platform operated by launch operator Sea Launch.