Alcatel Space CEO Pascale Sourisse told journalists at Satellite 2003 that there could be as few as 12 commercial satellite orders this year. Sourisse gave an estimate of 12-15 commercial satellite orders for 2003. Other satellite manufacturers gave estimates of between 15-20 orders in the commercial satellite sector this year. While there is likely to be an increase of satellite orders from 2002, if Sourisse is to be believed it may not be as many as satellite manufacturers hope for. Alcatel Space had revenues in the 1.3 billion euros ($1.44 billion) in 2002, and expects a similar performance in 2003.

Sourisse also expects 2003 “to be a good year for military telecoms.” Alcatel is the prime contractor for the French Ministry of Defence. So there could be larger contracts in this area this year. Alcatel Space derives around 16 per cent of its revenues from the military arena, and Sourisse expects this to increase this year.

One key competitive advantage for Alcatel Space is leveraging the relationships that Alcatel has built with telcos world-wide. One such example is that Globalcom, the second national carrier of Nigeria, awarded Alcatel 675 million euros ($740.7 million) to supply a nation-wide turnkey mobile and fixed telecoms network in Nigeria. As part of the project, Globalcom will implement a satellite backbone network as the most suitable and reliable way to internconnect mobile switching centers.

–Mark Holmes