PanAmSat Corporation announced Wednesday that it had filed for nine Ka-band orbital slots through the Australian Communications Authority (ACA), the country’s telecommunications commission. The ACA has forwarded the filings to the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) for final approval.
The Australian Ka-band filings replace all except one of the U.S. Ka-band orbital filings that PanAmSat had previously held until today. PanAmSat intends to pursue Ka-band opportunities in the latter half of this decade when the market is more likely to develop.
In addition, the company is designing a system that will optimally meet the needs of customers currently served by co-locating with existing PanAmSat satellites where appropriate.
“We believe that the market for broadband services using Ka-band is more likely to develop within the timeframe of our new filings in the later part of this decade,” said James Cuminale, executive vice president, corporate development and general counsel of PanAmSat.
“Given the current market climate, we decided to relinquish our U.S. Ka-band orbital locations, which would have required systems to be placed in service before 2005.”
This is the second time PanAmSat has approached the ACA for an orbital location. In 2000, PanAmSat successfully secured a C/Ku-band slot through the ACA. PanAmSat has had a presence in Australia since 1994, when the company opened its Asia-Pacific headquarters in Sydney.
“PanAmSat’s previous experience with the ACA for a C/Ku-band slot had been an extremely positive one. The ACA is a governmental agency that is highly competent, respected universally in radio spectrum management and responsive to business,” continued Cuminale. “We look forward to developing these licenses in cooperation with the Australian government.”
