While not considered a banner year for the satellite communications sector, 2010 was not as down as some might have forecasted. Many executives navigated their companies successfully through a tough economic environment, and the following five nominees stood out.
Matt Desch, CEO, Iridium
Under CEO Matt Desch, Iridium’s total revenue improved in all four quarters of 2010, and the MSS company reported full-year revenue of $353 million, up from $319 million in 2009. In addition, Iridium grew its total billable subscriber base by 25 percent during the year to nearly 450,000 users and strengthened each of its business sectors. Government service revenues grew by 10.7 percent, commercial services by 14.7 percent and subscriber equipment by 9 percent. Iridium’s total sales grew 10.6 percent on average.
Besides boosting revenues, strengthening its global partnership networks and rolling out a slew of new products, Desch’s main objective and challenge in 2010 was to plan for the operator’s next-generation offering — Iridium Next — at a time when financing ambitious projects was difficult. Because of the economic climate, some analysts wrote off Iridium Next as unrealistic and too expensive, but the satellite operator secured and closed a $1.8 billion financing facility with a consortium of international investors led by credit export agency Coface. The deal put Iridium’s full-scale system development contract with Thales Alenia Space and a launch contract with SpaceX into effect and opened the door for two long-term agreements that designate Boeing as Iridium’s sole operations and maintenance provider for the current constellation as well as granted Boeing exclusive operations and maintenance rights for the Iridium Next constellation.
Desch also led efforts to set up Iridium South Africa, an entity that will allow Iridium to operate, provide and sell mobile services in the country, where Iridium anticipates opportunities for more than 200 global distribution partners to form partnerships to deliver services in the South Africa.
The company also won three contracts from the U.S. Department of Defense’s Defense Information Systems Agency to upgrade the Enhanced Mobile Satellite Service Gateway in Hawaii. With the upgrades, Iridium is building in enhancements that support migration toward Iridium Next.
Petra Mateos-Aparicio, Chairwoman, Hispasat
As a regional operator working in both Europe and Latin America, Hispasat Chairwoman Petra Meteos-Aparicio provides a textbook example on how a smaller satellite operator can expand its reach and build a business.
Hispasat will once again see growth in both revenues and profits for fiscal year 2010, continuing a trend of strong increases in all key financial metrics over the past several years. In 2009, the operator saw profits increase by 50 percent compared to 2008, and the regional player’s profits doubled between 2007 and 2009.
Hispasat’s growth has been based, in part, on making great strides in Latin America, securing good transponder fill rates for both its Amazonas-1 and Amazonas-2 satellites. The operator signed contracts for capacity in Latin America with companies such as Spain-based Telefonica, which provides services in Spain and Latin America, and Brazil’s Petrobras. The majority of the capacity on the Amazonas-2 satellite, placed in orbit in October 2009, already has been sold, giving Hispasat an even stronger position in markets such as the United States and Mexico. At the end of 2009, more than 30 percent of Hispasat’s overall revenues were derived from the Americas.
The company ended the year with the launch of its Hispasat 1E satellite, the second of five spacecraft that form the basis of Hispasat’s latest growth plan
Hispasat also was selected in 2010 by NASA to participate in the hurricane research mission, Genesis and Rapid Intensification Processes, intended to better understand how tropical storms form and then develop into hurricanes.
Due to Mateos’s astute leadership, Hispasat’s growth curve shows no signs of slowing, and with strong positions in both Latin America and Europe, it is an operator on the rise.
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