Astrium will build Telesat’s next satellite as the Canadian operator switches suppliers for the first time since the sale of Space Systems Loral (SSL) by their one time mutual parent.
The French manufacturer has been tasked with replacing Telstar 12…
Astrium will build Telesat’s next satellite as the Canadian operator switches suppliers for the first time since the sale of Space Systems Loral (SSL) by their one time mutual parent.
The French manufacturer has been tasked with replacing Telstar 12 at 15W with a new satellite that has high throughput capabilities.
Telesat said the spacecraft will provide services to broadcast, corporate, government and enterprise users across Europe, the Americas, the Middle East, Africa, the Caribbean, North Sea, Mediterranean and the South Atlantic regions.
In the past, Telesat had tended to order satellites from SSL while the two companies were majority-owned by Loral Space and Communications.
However, last year SSL was sold to Canada’s MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates (MDA) for US$875m, prompting Telesat’s return to Astrium, which before Loral’s SSL ownership had been its regular supplier of spacecraft.
The contract win comes after Astrium formed a Vancouver-based subsidiary late last year as part of a push into the US and Canadian markets. Its owner EADS has also recently announced plans for a wide-reaching reorganisation, which will see it focus on its commercial aircraft business, rather than previous plans to be split equally between civil and defence by 2020.
Telesat posted revenues for the three months to 30 June 2013 up 7% to C$216m, compared with the same period last year, thanks mainly to its Nimiq 6 and Anik G1 satellites entering commercial services in June 2012 and May 2013, respectively.
Adjusted EBITDA jumped 10% to C$172m, giving a margin of 80% for the second quarter of 2013, compared with 77% last year.
SSL wins others
Meanwhile, MDA revealed in its results this week that SSL had secured two undisclosed satellite contracts, giving it a total of six orders this year.
The announcement came a day after it said it had been picked to provide a multi-mission satellite for France’s Eutelsat to cover Brazil and Latin America.
That satellite, called Eutelsat 65 West A, is part of the French operator’s expansion into the emerging market, coming alongside its proposed US$1.14bn takeover of Mexico’s Satmex.
It will be equipped with 10 C-band and 24 Ku-band transponders for video services, in addition to 24 Ka-band spot beams for broadband. It is being scheduled for an early 2016 launch.
Eutelsat CEO Michel de Rosen said: “We look forward to working with SSL on this sophisticated satellite programme that will bring Eutelsat expanded and highly flexible communications capability to respond to opportunities in Brazil and across Latin America that represent some of the fastest-growing regions in the satellite industry.”
MDA reported C$450.4m in revenues for Q2 2013, up from C$164m the year before largely because of its SSL acquisition. Operating EBITDA climbed to C$78.4m, compared with C$47.4m for Q2 2012. This gave MDA an operating EBITDA margin of 17%, compared with 29% last year.
