Eutelsat Communications announced in May 2009 that it has selected Astrium to deliver its new Atlantic Bird 7 satellite for 7 degrees West. Scheduled for launch in 4th quarter 2011, the satellite will be located at a key neighbourhood for digital broadcasting markets in the Middle East and North Africa, which Eutelsat operates in close collaboration with the Egyptian satellite operator Nilesat. The launch vehicle will be selected by Eutelsat at a later stage.

Following the launch and entry into service of Atlantic Bird 7 at 7 degrees West, Eutelsat will redeploy the Atlantic Bird 4A satellite currently at this position to the Group's premium broadcasting neighbourhood at 13 degrees East, where it will revert to its original name of Hotbird 10. Eutelsat has been operating Atlantic Bird 4A at 7 degrees West since March 2009 as part of the first phase of boosting broadcasting capacity at this neighbourhood. Over 450 television channels already broadcast from 7 degrees West to an audience of 38 million homes.