Arabsat, one of the main players on the satellite landscape in the Middle East and Africa, is looking into hosted payloads while also continuing rollouts of new capacity. Arabsat CEO Khalid Balkheyour outlines the operator’s plans for hosted payloads as well as the possibilities in residential broadband markets throughout the Middle East and Africa.
VIA SATELLITE: When will you announce any hosted payload deals?
Balkheyour: We think hosted payloads will be a viable way to grow in the next period for Arabsat. At the same time, we are not only looking for partnerships, but we are looking for new orbital locations and new co-operation opportunities neighboring to our region. We are looking for partnerships with government entities. Initially, we were hoping to sign a hosted payload deal at the end of last year. However, with government organizations, it takes more time than expected, so, hopefully, we will reach this type of deal in 2011.
VIA SATELLITE: Will your company pursue other hosted payload opportunities this year?
Balkheyour: If things go as we plan, we hope to announce another one next year. This would be the first for the Middle East. We haven’t seen a hosted payload program involving two different organizations in the Middle East, so we are looking for a deal where Arabsat would use some of the payload and another organization would use the rest. There is no stipulation in terms of the division of the payload right now.
VIA SATELLITE: What is the state of your capacity expansion plans?
Balkheyour: We launched two satellites in June last year — Arabsat 5A and BADR 5 — and both of those satellites are almost fully utilized. We are happy with those successful launches. This year, we are launching the Arabsat 5C satellite in the August/September timeframe. That satellite will be launched at the 20 degrees East orbital location. It will have a Ka-band payload covering the Arab Peninsula, Iraq, Levant and Afghanistan. It will be the first of its kind in the region to be commercially available. We are introducing this technology in the region, and there is a challenge in terms of getting licenses and partners to utilize that payload. It is going to be a busy year for us trying to sell that capacity in addition to a significant C-band payload that is covering the Middle East, Europe, Africa and West Asia regions.
VIA SATELLITE: Last year, you said that you hoped to sign a signature Ka-band satellite contract with a telecoms operator in late 2010. Are you close to this deal?
Balkheyour: We have seen that there are a number of entities interested in this payload, so we requested from the interested companies to submit their proposals based on their business plan and their proposed form of utilizing this capacity with or without Arabsat involvement or partnership with Arabsat to deliver services based on Ka-band. We have received all the offers, and are now evaluating the different partners, but we aim to close this later this month. We expect to announce a major partnership in the next month with a major telco/ISP here.
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