Space Systems Loral announced two orders within days of each other in late December from FSS operators Telesat and Telkom Indonesia. The Palo Alto, California-based manufacturer has been contracted to build what will be Telesat’s third HTS satellite, Telstar 18 Vantage, and Telkom-4.
Space Systems Loral announced two orders within days of each other in late December from FSS operators Telesat and Telkom Indonesia (IDX: TLKM).
The Palo Alto, California-based manufacturer has been contracted to build what will be Telesat’s third HTS satellite, Telstar 18 Vantage, and Telkom-4. Both are expected to launch in early 2018 and the launch vehicles are yet to be confirmed.
Telstar 18 Vantage will be placed at 138E and the Canadian operator said it will cover growing markets in China, Mongolia, Southeast Asia and the Pacific.
Hong Kong’s APT Satellite has been signed up as an anchor tenant, agreeing to lease 57.47% of the transponders for the 15-year lifespan of Telstar 18 Vantage, which will also be known as Apstar-5C.
According to a filing with the Hong Kong stock exchange, APT will pay Telesat US$119m to lease the capacity, with monthly cash instalments starting from the announcement of the transponder agreement in December and running until Q1 2018.
The bird will replace Telstar 18/Apstar-5, which is due to retire in 2019/2020, on which APT leases 53.7% of the transponders.
It is the second order Telesat has placed with SSL in as many months. In November it procured Telstar 19 Vantage, also due to be launched in early 2018, after pre-selling capacity to US satellite broadband player Hughes Network Systems.
Telstar 18 Vantage will become Telesat’s third HTS, with high throughput spot beams in the Ku-band in addition to broad regional beams, and C-band coverage from India to Hawaii.
Telesat CEO Dan Goldberg said: “Telstar 18 Vantage is a high throughput, highly flexible, state-of-the-art satellite that will provide a significant competitive advantage to customers serving the demanding requirements of broadcast, enterprise and government users throughout Asia.”
Covering Indonesia
Telkom-4 will cover Indonesia, India, and Southeast Asia, but with Indonesia very much the focus.
Like the Telstar 18 Vantage, SSL is basing Telkom-4 on its 1300 platform and is planned to be in service for 15 years. According to a Jakarta Globe report, Telkom-4 will cost US$200m and replace the aging Telkom-1, due to go out of service in 2018.
“Because our country consists of thousands of islands, Indonesia needs satellite technology,” said Alex Sinaga, president director and chief operating officer of Telkom.
“Satellite complements our other technologies, such as submarine cable, as the backbone that connects the islands of Indonesia.”
John Celli (pictured), president of SSL, highlighted the level of demand for satellite services in the country.
“For SSL, this is the third satellite for Indonesia that we will add to our backlog and we are honoured to play such an important role in expanding the telecommunications infrastructure for the nation and the region.”
SSL previously won orders from Indonesia’s state-owned Bank Rakyat Indonesia and Pasifik Satelit Nusantara in 2014.
