Reynald Seznec succeeded Pascale Sourisse as CEO of Thales Alenia Space in May 2008, taking over a company with a strong backlog that included the next-generation constellation for Globalstar. He quickly added an order from O3b to Thales’ projects, but as the global economy took a downturn, Seznec has had to cope with building the business at a time when spending on satellite projects may be slowing down.
Still, Thales has added some key contracts to its list in the first half of 2009. In February, the company captured a contract, along with Astrium, to build and deliver Arabsat 5C and Arabsat 6B to Arabsat, one of the Middle East’s top satellite operators. Astrium, the leading partner, will supply its Eurostar E3000 platforms and integrate the satellites, while Thales Alenia Space will design and build the communications payloads. Just 24 hours later, Thales announced a deal with Russian satellite operator Gazprom Space Systems to deliver two Yamal-400 new-generation communications satellites. As prime contractor, Thales will be responsible for design, manufacture, testing and turnkey delivery of Yamal-401 and Yamal-402 satellites as well as for the associated ground segment deployment for a scheduled 2011 launch.
In March, Thales won a deal with Eutelsat to manufacture its W3C satellite. Thales will be in charge of the design, manufacturing, test and delivery of the satellite. Planned for a launch third quarter 2011, W3C will provide broadcast and telecommunications services over Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
But perhaps the biggest win for Thales came in late March, when Coface, France’s export credit agency, said it would provide Globalstar $574 million that would be used to fund Globalstar’s next-generation satellite fleet being manufactured by Thales
Seznec is confident that Thales can maintain this momentum into the second half of the year and discusses his ambitions for the remainder of 2009 as well the key contracts the company is targeting.
VIA SATELLITE: We are in the middle of a global economic downturn. Do you think this will impact the number of satellite orders we will see in 2009?
SEZNEC: I wish I had a crystal ball. At this time, we are confident, but at the same time vigilant. So why are we confident? We think in real terms, the demand is still there. A first and obvious reason is that we are in the first part of a renewal cycle. Many of the satellites that are in orbit today need to be replaced and this is happening. This cycle is supposed to last until 2012. The second point is about the demand. The end-user demand is still there, because new applications such as HDTV or triple play are driving the market right now. Satellite is a must for these applications over large territories. New infrastructure needs exist from new operators and emerging nations. There are new commercial business models, which are being developed and appearing on the market. All of this sustains the demand.
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