Europe Picks Mobile Sat Service Suppliers
By Michael A. Taverna
PARIS - The European Commission (EC) has selected Inmarsat Ventures Ltd. and Solaris Mobile Ltd. to provide hybrid mobile satellite services (MSS) across the European Union (EU).
The selection completes a process begun in August 2008 that culminated in the short-listing of four candidates in December. However, operating licenses for specific radio frequencies for the 18-year period of the approval still must be granted by individual EU nation states. The EC has given the two suppliers 24 months to begin commercial service.
Solaris, a joint venture of SES Astra and Eutelsat, has already begun trials of its system, which will use an S-band payload on Eutelsat's W2A, launched in early April. Alfa trials are planned and the company says the investment so far - 150 million euros ($203 million) - is enough to get the system into operation. However, further outlays will be necessary for terrestrial towers, which are used to augment satellite coverage indoors and in other hard-to-reach locations. These are to be funded through partners.
Inmarsat has acquired a spacecraft from Thales Alenia Space, subject to EC approval.
The two eliminated candidates, TerreStar and ICO Global Communications, both are already engaged in North American hybrid MSS projects. TerreStar had placed a preliminary order with Astrium. ICO had not made satellite arrangements, but instead had sued the EC for alleged failure to respect a prior medium Earth orbit MSS filing from the International Telecommunications Union. However, the validity of the filing for its satellite, which is only in partial use, is unclear.
Artist's concept of W2A: Thales Alenia Space
