SES-Eutelsat JV Solaris Mobile has hired Lazard Bank to bring in a third shareholder to roll out the terrestrial infrastructure required by its spectrum licence.
A spokeswoman for Solaris declined to give specific details about the process, but told…
SES-Eutelsat JV Solaris Mobile has hired Lazard Bank to bring in a third shareholder to roll out the terrestrial infrastructure required by its spectrum licence.
A spokeswoman for Solaris declined to give specific details about the process, but told SatelliteFinance: “Lazard’s mandate is to support Solaris and its shareholders in selecting a strategic partner that can support the development of mobile services and invest into the necessary complementary ground infrastructure.
“We are actively looking to see how the company’s position in the market can be strengthened as we move into the next phase of development and investment.”
Solaris was awarded 15MHz of S-Band spectrum in 2009 by the European Commission, under the condition that it meets certain milestones for hybrid satellite and terrestrial development.
SES Astra and Eutelsat have already invested heavily in one satellite, which launched with reduced services in April last year, and are pressing ahead with plans for a new S-band payload.
Solaris CEO Steve Maine said earlier this year that he anticipated that procurement for the second satellite would go ahead by the end of Q3 2010.
The Solaris spokeswoman said a contract has yet to be placed, and the company has not decided whether the bird will be fitted with a stand-alone or “piggy-back” payload.
However, Solaris’ owners are reportedly unwilling to stump up the significant cost of building terrestrial transmitters, which would be at least several tens of millions of euros. Instead, they want to limit their role in Solaris to being wholesalers, even allowing the new partner to become a majority shareholder in the JV, according to some reports.
