Hong Kong’s ABS has picked Boeing to build a tri-band all-electric satellite that will be capable of delivering more than 20Gbps of throughput from 116.1E.
ABS CEO Tom Choi said SpaceX has been lined up to launch the satellite in late 2017 to replace…
Hong Kong’s ABS has picked Boeing to build a tri-band all-electric satellite that will be capable of delivering more than 20Gbps of throughput from 116.1E.
ABS CEO Tom Choi said SpaceX has been lined up to launch the satellite in late 2017 to replace ABS-7.
He said ABS-8 will use a total of 50 transponders comprising regional C and Ku-band beams, along with high powered Ku-band spot beams and a steerable Ka-band beam.
SatelliteFinance understands that ABS-8 will be the flag carrier for a new patented technology that the operator has been developing called Ultra Throughput Satellite (UTS), enabling users to receive 99.9% service availability despite using a higher frequency band (Ku or Ka).
The technology aims to make high throughput services ‘rainproof’ by using a blend of high frequency spot beams and low frequency wide beams available through a single user antenna, and other associated ground technologies. This capability will particularly help ABS-8 extend the operator’s coverage in Southeast Asia, where the majority of countries have a wet and dry season caused by monsoons or seasonal shifts in winds.
It is believed that, as well as replacing ABS-7’s services in the Middle East, ABS-8 will add coverage in Russia, India, Indochina, Indonesia, Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Australia and New Zealand, Korea and Japan, and the Pacific Ocean region.
The operator will be targeting government, mobility, telecoms, DTH and rural broadband markets in these regions, where its UTS internet offering will compete with the likes of MEO startup O3b Networks and Intelsat’s next generation Epic constellation.
Choi told SatelliteFinance: “UTS will be more cost competitive than O3b or Epic while delivering 99.9% availability. The end user terminals will be extremely low cost and between one to two meters in size. Frankly I don’t see how Epic and O3b will compete for rural broadband access when compared to ABS’ UTS systems.”
Places further bet on all-electric
Boeing built the operator’s last two satellites, the all-electric ABS-3A and ABS-2A, which also picked SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket for their launches.
ABS-3A was launched with the Eutelsat 115 West B satellite earlier this year, while ABS-2A will be lofted in Q4 along with Eutelsat 117 West B.
ABS-8 is also being designed to accommodate a co-launch passenger.
Choi said in an interview in December that, upon the launch and deployment of ABS-3A and 2A, it will be able to build one satellite a year through operating cashflow alone, although it also has a US$450m financing package from the US Ex-Im Bank.
The group has plans to order two more UTS satellites in the next two years, and has been looking to expand into an orbital position in the Western Hemisphere to gain global coverage.
It is thought that its next two satellites are targeting the Atlantic Ocean region at 16W and the Pacific ocean region at 159E, and will also feature UTS payloads.
