Australian satellite company, NewSat (ASX:NWT), has inked a new $US67 million, ten-year contract with a Middle Eastern telecommunications provider for the purchase of Jabiru satellite transmission capacity.
The company’s customer contracts now total $US346 million.
The Ka-band satellite capacity purchased will allow the customer to provide high-speed Internet and data services across a range of high demand regions within the Middle East, Africa and Asia.
Jabiru-1 is NewSat's first geostationary communications satellite that will provide high-powered satellite capacity to high value customers in the military, defence and government markets as well as other enterprise segments such as resources.
“We are seeing more and more demand for Ka-band satellite capacity across for Internet, voice and data services. Ka-band blends perfectly for this market and our new carrier-grade telecommunications customer sees the delivery of their Internet and data services via Ka-band as a major competitive advantage,” NewSat Founder and CEO, Adrian Ballintine, said.
Ballintine stated this follows the announcements of Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems to commence the satellite construction immediately and Arianespace to launch the satellite in the second half of 2014.
NewSat has made an initial payment with Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems and will continue to make the required milestone payments under the contract.
“Combined with $US279 million of cornerstone customer contracts, NewSat is rapidly transforming into a global satellite operator,” Ballintine added.
For commercial and competitive reasons, NewSat declined to disclose the details of the customer.
