The Israeli operator Spacecom has confirmed that its in-orbit purchased satellite Amos-5i has reached its new orbital slot at 17E and is now entered commercial service.
Spacecom bought the satellite, formerly named AsiaSat-2, from AsiaSat late last year…
The Israeli operator Spacecom has confirmed that its in-orbit purchased satellite Amos-5i has reached its new orbital slot at 17E and is now entered commercial service.
Spacecom bought the satellite, formerly named AsiaSat-2, from AsiaSat late last year for an undisclosed fee.
It offers coverage to the Middle East and African markets, where it will serve as an interim forerunner for the launch of Spacecom’s Amos-5 satellite in mid-2011.
Amos-5i carries 20 36MHz and 4 72MHz C-band transponders in addition to 9 54MHz Ku-band transponders. The Lockheed Martin-built satellite was launched by AsiaSat in November 1995.
Though this implies it does not have much remaining life, it has sufficient power to establish Spacecom’s business in the new markets that Amos-5 will serve.
Spacecom has also contracted AsiaSat to continue providing satellite operation and Telemetry, Tracking and Control (TT&C) services for Amos-5i.
Spacecom CEO David Pollack said: “AMOS-5 will be a prime carrier of African traffic in the years to come in both broadcast and data services. As an interim solution, the AMOS-5i satellite catalyzes and expedites our business development efforts on the continent enabling us to already position Spacecom as an attractive source of C-band and Ku-band capacity for a variety of businesses, including telecoms, cellular operators, broadcasters, governments and others.”
“Spacecom is transitioning from being a leading regional player to an emerging global satellite operator, and the expansion of the AMOS fleet’s coverage over Africa represents an important milestone for the company. Once the AMOS-4 satellite joins our fleet in 2012 in an orbital position over the Indian Ocean Region, we will be one step closer to our ambitious goal.”
Earlier this month Spacecom raised US$20m through a private placement on the Tel Aviv stock exchange, a move that was widely considered to have at least partially funded the Amos-5i acquisition.
Spacecom has also signed an agreement with the Californian launch service provider SpaceX for the delivery of a satellite as early as December 2012 on a Falcon 9 rocket.
Following British operator Avanti’s decision to switch from SpaceX to Arianespace for this year’s launch of its HYLAS-2 rocket, this marks the first SpaceX deal with a commercial operator.
Current knowledge points to the contract being for the launch of the Indian Ocean satellite Amos-4, which is the only Spacecom satellite scheduled for launch in 2012.
However, the company has already shown its ambition to get new capacity into space quickly, and it would be not be a surprise if the SpaceX contract were to be used for a different, as yet unannounced future satellite.
