Operated by Eutelsat, it provides direct-to-home (DTH) broadcasting services from geostationary orbit.

Eutelsat announced the order of a new Spacebus-4000C3 satellite bus from Thales Alenia Space in October 2012.

Eutelsat 8 West B is a 5,782 kg (12,747 lb) satellite with a design life of 15 years.

It is equipped with an S400-12 apogee motor which was used for initial orbit-raising manoeuvres and an S10-18 engine for station keeping burns.

Liftoff occurred at 20:34:08 UTC on 20 August 2015,[3] with the launch vehicle successfully injecting its payload into geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO).