CMMB Vision has partnered with one of China’s largest telcos to gain a foothold in the country’s highly regulated satellite service industry. The plan to jointly operate AsiaStar satellite services with a unit of China Telecom comes as CMMB orders a more powerful spacecraft from Boeing.
CMMB Vision (HKG:0471) has partnered with one of China’s largest telcos to gain a foothold in the country’s highly regulated satellite service industry.
The Hong Kong-listed, Cayman Islands-incorporated group is teaming up with China Telecom (HKG:0728) subsidiary CSMM, which holds exclusive landing rights for the L-band spectrum on the AsiaStar satellite it is close to buying.
CMMB said it recently agreed terms to acquire AsiaStar from New York Satellite Holdings (NYBB), its US-based partner that last year bought the spacecraft from Yazmi USA, a company owned by the founder of defunct satellite radio network Worldspace.
Launched in 2001 to 105E, AsiaStar holds the only mobile network infrastructure that can cover the whole of China and Asian ‘One-Belt-One-Road’ countries such as India.
Its frequency landing right expired on 31 December 2014 because of the shareholder change, and CSMM has agreed to sponsor the renewal application in return for jointly operating its services.
CMMB said on Tuesday that AsiaStar has about six to eight more years of useful service in orbit, and that NYBB has actioned a previously announced order with Boeing (NYSE:BA) to procure a complementary – and eventual replacement – L-band bird called Silkwave-1.
NYBB will lease Silkwave-1’s capacity to CMMB and expects it to be launched in Q1 2018, rather than the previously announced 2017. Based on Boeing’s 702 platform with a nine metre reflector and a transmission power some 100 times greater than AsiaStar, the satellite will be able to reach mobile devices directly on the ground, similar to a cellular network.
Mark Spiwak, president of Boeing Satellite Systems International, said: “The new Silkwave-1 spacecraft is designed to support broadband multimedia broadcasting to mobile users.
“It will have dedicated beams over China and India and a steerable beam over other Asian countries for independent services for different regions. This optimises power based on regional needs and multiplies the overall bandwidth delivery capacity.”
More than four billion people live in the regions the satellite is being built to cover, and potential services include vehicle-based digital radio and internet, mass-market mobile TV, ubiquitous big data and Internet of Things, remote education and emergency services applications.
Financing options
CMMB has told Hong Kong’s stock exchange that it has appointed a New York-based investment bank to raise funds for its business plans.
SatelliteFinance understands that it has been looking to secure US$300m-500m in equity and debt this year to partly fund Silkwave-1, as well as another satellite it could procure from either Boeing or China’s CGWIC. Two satellites would be optimal to cover the geography that CMMB is initially targeting, while also helping to hedge the risk of any launch delays.
The group’s plan to also tap export credit agency financing from the US Ex-Im Bank got a boost this week, with the House approving a bill that would revive the federal agency if it can pass the Senate – a decision likely to be made in December.
In the meantime, sources have said the group is talking to the Asia Infrastructure Investment Fund and China’s multi-billion dollar Silk Road Fund for support.
Founded last year, the state-controlled Silk Road Fund aims to invest in infrastructure, connectivity and cooperation projects along the predominately Eurasian One-Belt-One-Road countries that CMMB is targeting.
As reported previously, NYBB is also thought to be looking to buy a second bird from Yazmi called AfriSat, which would enable CMMB to replicate the business across Africa and the Middle East.
