Up to 44 Ku-band transponders will be routed to a broad high-power footprint serving the Middle East and North Africa for Direct-to-Home (DTH) broadcasting. A second footprint for North-West Africa, across the Maghreb countries and extending down to the Gulf of Guinea, will be connected to a payload of up to 12 Ku-band transponders designed for consumer broadcasting services and equipped to meet high demand for Internet access services.

Atlantic Bird 7 is a Eurostar E3000 model with launch mass of 4,600kg and spacecraft power of more than 12kW. The satellite is designed to have a spacecraft power of 12kW at the end of its 15-year service life.

Atlantic Bird 7 was successfully launched on 24 September 2011 by a Zenit-3SL rocket operated by Sea Launch from its 154°W launch platform in the Pacific Ocean.

Prime contractor for Atlantic Bird 7, Astrium is responsible for the design and manufacture of the satellite, and the supply of both the payload and the platform.