SES will increasing its stake in O3b Networks (O3b) from 49.1% to 50.5%, giving it majority control, for a payment of US$20 million. This brings its aggregate equity investment in O3b to date to US$323 million (EUR 257 million). On completion, SES will consolidate O3b’s net debt, which is currently USD 1.2 billion. In addition, the Board of O3b Networks has agreed to evaluate an Initial Public Offering (IPO) process for the remaining 49.5% of O3b shares following receipt of the requisite regulatory approvals, and subsequent completion of SES’s increase in ownership to 50.5%.
O3b Networks operates a constellation of 12 High Throughput Satellites (HTS) in a Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) around 8,000 kilometres from the Earth. The company offers customers a ‘fibre in the sky’ solution, with each of the constellation’s beams capable of delivering up to 1.6 Gbps of throughput at a low latency of less than 150 milliseconds, a significant improvement over geostationary connectivity.
O3b claims to be the fastest growing satellite network in history in terms of capacity contracted. Since beginning commercial operations in September 2014, the company has added over 40 Enterprise, Mobility and Government clients across 31 countries. To date, over 50% of customers have already upgraded their initial service commitments, demonstrating the attraction of O3b’s unique and ‘game-changing’ solution. Consequently, O3b has a fully protected contract backlog of US$350 million. O3b’s global customer base includes Digicel Pacific, Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, American Samoa Telecom, Speedcast, Rignet, Bharti International (Airtel), Timor Telecom, CNT Ecuador, Entel Chile and (via SES Government Solutions) the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
O3b has procured an additional eight satellites to accommodate rapidly-expanding demand, with four satellites expected to be launched during H1 2018, and the remaining four satellites expected to be launched in H2 2019. These procurements will increase the size of the current fleet from 12 to 20 satellites (including three satellites currently flying as in-orbit back-up). At ‘steady-state’ utilisation, which is targeted to be achieved by the end of the third year of a satellite’s commercial service, the full operational constellation is expected to generate annualised revenue of between US$32 million and US$36 million per satellite.
SES said the consolidation enables it to extend its global reach and satellite-enabled solutions.
“The move to take control of O3b is a game-changing acquisition and a major step in the execution of SES’s differentiated strategy and complements SES’s growth strategy. O3b delivers a unique capability and solution, which is already in operation, for Enterprise, Mobility and Government clients, particularly for applications where low latency is an increasingly essential feature. The combined GEO/MEO satellite network and capabilities give SES a truly compelling and differentiated service offering within the industry, strengthening SES’s unique positioning across the data-centric markets,” stated Karim Michel Sabbagh, President and CEO.
O3B Lands $460 Million to Expand Global Satellite Constellation
O3b Networks closed $460 million in incremental financing to support its next-generation satellite network. The company plans to use the money to expand the total number of satellites in its constellation from twelve to twenty.
O3b began full commercial operations in September 2014. The company said it now supports connectivity for more than 40 customers worldwide, with more than 50% of those customers having already upgraded their service commitments to O3b during the first year of commercial operation.
“This is an incredibly exciting time for O3b and its customers. Our constellation is highly scalable and can be grown in direct response to market demand. In only a little over a year from our full commercial launch, we can already see the need for substantially more capacity in orbit to serve our customers. We are the No.1 operator in the Pacific and, together with Royal Caribbean, we have revolutionized the cruise connectivity market. Our Telco customers are expanding their service offerings and growing their markets on the back of O3b’s performance and capability,” said Steve Collar, CEO of O3b Networks.
- O3b Networks’ investors include SES, Google, Liberty Global, HSBC Principal Investments, Northbridge Venture Partners, Allen & Company, Development Bank of Southern Africa, Sofina, Satya Capital and Luxempart. O3b Networks is headquartered in St. Helier, Jersey, Channel Islands.
SpaceX Launches SES-9 on Falcon 9 Rocket
SpaceX successfully launched the SES-9 satellite using a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida.
SES-9 is SES’s largest satellite to serve the Asia-Pacific region. It weighed 5.3 tonnes at the launch and has 57 high-power Ku-band transponders – equivalent to 81×36 MHz transponders’ It thus provides significant expansion capacity to serve the buoyant and fast-growing video, enterprise, mobility and government sectors across Northeast Asia, South Asia, India, Indonesia and the Philippines.
Boeing was lead contractor.
In addition, SES-9 is equipped with dedicated mobility beams to provide maritime coverage vessels on high-traffic maritime routes between the Suez Canal and Strait of Malacca.
The Falcon 9 rocket attempted to land on a drone ship in the Atlantic, but missed narrowly.
Gogo Leases Capacity on SES Next Gen Satellites
Gogo has contracted major High Throughput Satellite (HTS) spot beam and wide beam capacity aboard two SES next-generation HTS satellites, SES-14 and SES-15, which are set for launch in 2017.
The deal will enable Gogo to address the growing demand for high-speed inflight connectivity on travel routes over North America, including Alaska, Hawaii, Mexico and Canada, as well as Central America and the Caribbean. Gogo will also have access to HTS capacity on an additional satellite, SES-12, which is set to be launched in 2017 with high-powered spot beam and wide beam coverage over Asia, the Middle East, North Africa and Russia.
