Israeli satellite operator Spacecom anticipates securing financing for its upcoming Amos-6 bird in Q2, after selecting a manufacturer by the end of Q1, SatelliteFinance has learnt.
“In a few weeks the manufacturer will be selected,” Gil Ilany,…
Israeli satellite operator Spacecom anticipates securing financing for its upcoming Amos-6 bird in Q2, after selecting a manufacturer by the end of Q1, SatelliteFinance has learnt.
“In a few weeks the manufacturer will be selected,” Gil Ilany, Spacecom’s VP for marketing, said in an interview on 24 January.
Ilany declined to disclose the shortlist of manufacturers for the satellite, which is slated for a 2014 launch, but described them as a mix of old and new.
For the construction of Amos 5, which began commercial services today, the operator strayed away from its usual manufacturer, Israeli Aerospace Industries, in favour of a low cost offer from Russia’s ISS-Reshetnev.
Amos 6, however, will have a total 42 transponders – making it almost larger than Spacecom’s earlier Amos-5, Amos-3 and Amos-2 satellites combined.
The chosen manufacturer will directly affect how Spacecom finances the US$200m spacecraft, according to Ilany, who added that the funds could be secured just weeks after the manufacturing mandate.
He also said that, for the first time, the company is “seriously considering” financing options outside of Israel, including export credit agency opportunities from the likes of the US Export-Import Bank.
“It’s something that we have evaluated, but didn’t do before,” he said.
“This time we are very seriously evaluating either all of the finance or part of the finance outside Israel.”
The company plans to launch Amos-6 to Spacecom’s 4W hotspot, where it will join Amos-2 and Amos-3 to provide broadband services to enterprise and consumer customers in Central Europe, Eastern Europe and Israel, with a bridge to the US East Coast.
Amos-5 was launched in December 2011 to 17E, where it will predominately cover Africa with C-band and Ku-band transponders.
