Asia Broadcast Satellite has bought the Koreasat-3 spacecraft from KT Corp, just ten months after its purchase of Koreasat-2 from the same company.
The satellite will be renamed ABS-7 and will continue to function at the 116E orbital position. It was…
Asia Broadcast Satellite has bought the Koreasat-3 spacecraft from KT Corp, just ten months after its purchase of Koreasat-2 from the same company.
The satellite will be renamed ABS-7 and will continue to function at the 116E orbital position. It was launched in 1999 and still has an estimated six to seven years of geostationary operational life remaining, and an additional four to five years in inclined orbit.
It carries 30 Ku-band transponders and 3 Ka-band transponders. It will be used to provide cellular backhaul, VSAT services, satellite broadband and to serve US/NATO government requirements in the Middle East region.
ABS CEO Tom Choi said: “We are extremely excited to have completed another successful transaction with KT in such a short period of time. I sincerely believe that this is a true testament to our mutual respect and desire to work together in building a solid foundation of cooperation and trust for the co-development of exciting opportunities in the near future.
“Similar to Koreasat-2, the Koreasat-3 satellite is a very well designed, powerful Ku-band satellite which will allow ABS to provide its customers additional capacity over the Middle East region and will be a valuable addition to our existing satellite fleet.”
The deal strengthens ABS’ strategic partnership with KT Corp, and is a continuation of its strategy to build a sizeable space presence through partnerships and acquisitions.
The ABS fleet now consists of ABS-1, ABS-1A and now ABS-7 acquired from KT Corp, the ABS-1B spacecraft that doubles up as Eutelsat’s Eurobird-4, and the Agila 2 satellite formerly owned by Mabuhay Corporation. The fleet will be augmented by the giant ABS-2 satellite to be launched in 2012.