ariane 5

Australian satellite operator NewSat has signed a five year, $32.4m deal with a Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) company for the sale of transmission capacity aboard the Jabiru satellite.

The deal covers the transmission capacity covering the entire GCC region and parts of the Middle East.

NewSat Founder and CEO, Adrian Ballintine, said: "Demand for satellite capacity continues to grow rapidly, particularly across the Middle East."

Ballintine added: "Our customer has taken the opportunity to secure significant Ka-band over these high growth regions where satellite capacity is scarce.

"Jabiru has now accumulated $558m in pre-launch customer contracts and is scheduled for launch with Arianespace in 2014.

"Export credit debt financing continues to track to plan for Jabiru-1 and NewSat is now actively progressing further satellites, Jabiru-3, 4 and 5, as we utilise our eight premium orbital slots."

Newsat has recently signed the launch services contract for the Jabiru-1 satellite contract with Arianespace.

As per the contract, Jabiru-1 will be launched aboard the Ariane 5 launch vehicle from the Guiana Space Center in French Guiana, during the fourth quarter of 2014.

The satellite, which offers a design life of 15 years, is currently being built by Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems with an A2100 platform.

Weighing about 5,900kg at launch, Jabiru-1 will be integrated with about 50 Ka-band transponders arranged in a various multi-spot, steerable and regional beams.

The company said that the satellite’s high-powered capacity will offer flexible communication solutions to enterprise and government customers across Asia, the Middle East and eastern Africa.

Newsat expects Jabiru-1 will achieve revenues and net profit of over $2bn and $1bn respectively through its design life.

 

Image: Jabiru satellite will be launched aboard Ariane 5 launch vehicle in 2014. Image: Arianespace