Asia Broadcast Satellite (ABS) has signed a multi-million dollar transponder leasing agreement with South Korean telecoms company KT Corporation. The contract is for multiple C and Ku-band transponders on ABS’ satellites, including the new ABS-2…
Asia Broadcast Satellite (ABS) has signed a multi-million dollar transponder leasing agreement with South Korean telecoms company KT Corporation. The contract is for multiple C and Ku-band transponders on ABS’ satellites, including the new ABS-2 satellite that is scheduled to be operational by Q1 2013. The agreement marks the third transaction between the two companies in the past twelve months after ABS acquired KT Corp’s Koreasat-2 (renamed ABS-1A) in July 2009 and then Koreasat-3 (renamed ABS-7) in May 2010.
Sung Man Kim, senior executive VP of KT Corp, said: “This Condosat Agreement will strengthen KT’s satellite business with a view of better support on its customers who are in need of global connectivity. Thanks to this additional capability, KT could serve around 66 countries with the umbrella of KT’s combined satellite fleets.”
Tom Choi, CEO of Asia Broadcast Satellite, added: “Just over a year ago in early July 2009, we concluded our first successful transaction with the KT Satellite Group to acquire Koreasat-2. Within the 12 short months that we’ve had the pleasure of working with the KT team, we have been able to successfully complete our third transaction together, which truly signifies our close partnership with KT. We continue to be committed to supporting and working closely with KT to successfully develop future opportunities together.”
Over the past couple of years, ABS has sought to rapidly grow through a series of strategic partnerships and acquisitions. Alongside the purchase of the two KT Corp. satellites, ABS snapped up Philippines-based satellite operator Mabuhay Satellite Corporation for an undisclosed fee in late 2009.
The acquisition gave it Mabuhay’s Agila 2 satellite. Choi also recently said that he believed that there will be more consolidation in the Asian satellite market and that ABS planned to play an active role.
The ABS-2 satellite is being constructed by Space Systems Loral and will be one of the most powerful commercial satellites in the Asia Pacific region with nearly 12 kilowatts of payload power and up to a total of 74 active C-, Ku- and Ka-band transponders across eight different beams. The spacecraft will be launched in early 2013 by an Ariane 5 ECA.
ABS-2 will be co-located at 75E with ABS-1 and will both expand the available capacity as well as act as in-orbit spare and backup for ABS-1. ABS-1A (Koreasat-2) has also been relocated to the 75E hotspot.
That bird has around two to five years of broadcasting life remaining.
