Russian DTH platform Orion Express has confirmed it is searching for a strategic investor as the group looks to expand its service offering.
In an email to SatelliteFinance on 11 April, a spokesman for the DTH firm said its owners were already in…
Russian DTH platform Orion Express has confirmed it is searching for a strategic investor as the group looks to expand its service offering.
In an email to SatelliteFinance on 11 April, a spokesman for the DTH firm said its owners were already in negotiations with operators. He declined to comment further on the process.
Reports citing local daily Vedomosti earlier this week suggested Russia’s Fund Service Bank, which owns 50% of Orion Express, had approached Russian telcos MTS, VimpelCom and Megafon about selling a stake. Orion Express’ owners are also reportedly considering selling 100% of the group. However, local businessman Yuri Khitrov, who owns the remaining 50% stake of the DTH firm, was cited saying that no firm offers have been received.
MTS declined to comment, and VimpelCom was unable to comment before the press deadline. A spokeswoman for Megafon said: “We receive a large number of proposals from regional operators, we are considering them.”
Reports have estimated that Orion Express could be worth up to US$300m.
DTH roll out delayed by interference issues
Meanwhile, potential interference issues are delaying Orion Express’s plans to expand its service offering until at least the second half of April.
The company is awaiting a ruling from Russia’s spectrum body, the General Radio Frequency Centre (GRFC), to determine whether it can use extra capacity it acquired from Intelsat for around US$100m last September. The preliminary date of GRFC meeting has been scheduled for 26 April.
The review follows concerns that the capacity it was looking to use on Intelsat’s Horizons 2 satellite at 85.15E would interfere with Kazak operator JSC KazSat’s Kazsat-2 satellite at 86.5E.
Horizons 2 was launched in December 2007 to replace Intelsat’s SBS-6 bird at 74W, but the satellite operator’s deal with Orion Express will reportedly see it moved to 85.15E, where the DTH firm holds the necessary licences. The satellite was built by Orbital Sciences and holds 36MHz transponders with 85W of power, and four 72MHz transponders with 150W of power.
The Kazsat-2 satellite was launched in July 2011 to replace Kazakhstan’s first satellite, which was called Kazsat-1 and was decommissioned following in-orbit failures.
Orion Express already delivers around 60 satellite TV channels in Russia from two satellites. It has capacity on the Intelsat 15 bird at 85.15E, which covers the European part of Russia, the Urals and Siberia, and capacity on RSCC’s Express AM3 bird at 140E, which covers Siberia and the Far East. The Horizons 2 deal would enable the DTH firm to offer up to 100 channels by the end of 2012, ten in HD, with more to follow next year.
