Hong Kong’s ABS is close to ordering Asia’s first all Ku-band high throughput satellite, SatelliteFinance has learnt.
The operator is understood to be looking to choose between US manufacturers Boeing and SSL this week to build ABS-8, one of three…
Hong Kong’s ABS is close to ordering Asia’s first all Ku-band high throughput satellite, SatelliteFinance has learnt.
The operator is understood to be looking to choose between US manufacturers Boeing and SSL this week to build ABS-8, one of three satellites it plans to order in the next two years.
ABS declined to comment.
Speaking to SatelliteFinance late last year, ABS CEO Tom Choi said the group was in “serious discussions” with Boeing about building its next spacecraft.
It picked Boeing to build its last two satellites – the all-electric ABS-3A and ABS-2A – although an option to buy more from the manufacturer under the same deal has since expired.
Choi also said at the time that it planned to make ABS-8 a lower position design so it can accommodate other co-launch passengers, much as it did with its last two birds. ABS-3A was launched with Eutelsat 115 West B earlier this year, while ABS-2A will be lofted in Q4 along with Eutelsat 117 West B.
Both missions picked US-based SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket for their launches.
Private equity-backed ABS has been growing rapidly since it acquired the Lockheed Martin Intersputnik-1 (renamed ABS-1) satellite in 2006.
Its satellites now cover about 80% of the world, and it has been looking to expand into an orbital position in the Western Hemisphere to get global coverage.
Even though ABS has a US$450m financing package from the US Ex-Im Bank, the group has said it will be able to build one satellite a year under operating cashflow alone.
HTS, although increasingly prevalent in other regions such as the Americas, is a relatively new concept for Asia.
ABS’ order comes a year after satellite fleet operator Eutelsat picked Airbus DS to build a triple mission all-electric spacecraft called Eutelsat 172B, which will include the first high throughput payload to cover the Pacific Ocean. California’s Panasonic Avionics Corporation has already bought that Ku-band HTS payload to offer inflight services.
Rival fleet operator SES also tapped Airbus DS last year to build a hybrid communications satellite called SES-12, which will include an HTS payload of 70 Ku-band and 11 Ka-band spot beams for VSAT, enterprise, mobility and government applications in Asia.
