Intelsat Acquires Satellite in Bankruptcy Auction
Intelsat will take over a relatively new ProtoStar satellite following a $210 million bid in a Thursday bankruptcy auction of ProtoStar’s corporate assets, Intelsat said. ProtoStar, a DTH services company that declared bankruptcy earlier this year, has one more satellite up for auction in December (CD Aug 4 p9).
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Built by Space Systems/Loral, ProtoStar 1 has 22 Ku-band and 38 C-band transponders and will be renamed Intelsat 25, Intelsat said. Intelsat spokeswoman Dianne VanBeber said the new capacity will be used for services in Africa. “[Africa] is an area of huge growth, and we are effectively out of capacity. This allows us to bring in some incremental capacity,” she said. The new capacity will likely be used for cellular backhaul and broadband, she said. ProtoStar 1 will be shifted to join Intelsat’s other satellites over the Atlantic Ocean. Intelsat operates 52 satellites and is scheduled to launch another next month.
For the companies bidding on the satellite, the auction was a way to acquire a relatively new in-orbit satellite, forgoing the launch risks and expenses and insurance fees, said Maxwell Engel, principal analyst at the North Star Consultancy. “This is clearly an opportunistic move for Intelsat.” EchoStar, which also reportedly bid on the satellite, declined comment.
Launched in July 2008, the satellite was never really in operation since ProtoStar was dealing with licensing issues, VanBeber said. Upon launch, the satellite had a 16-year life expectancy. While the deal must still receive regulatory and bankruptcy court approval, Intelsat said it expects to finish the transaction in the next 30 days.
The satellite was originally built for China Telecommunications Broadcast Satellite and named ChinaSat 8 in the late 1990s. Export control regulations stalled the deal and the built satellite sat at Space Systems/Loral for several years until it was sold to ProtoStar. The period it was out of use should not affect its active life expectancy, Intelsat said.
The satellite’s youth and versatility mark a good investment for Intelsat, said Engel. “You could not ask for better satellite to buy, given the factors of its age and not being highly specialized. … In most cases of bankruptcy you will find much less desirable satellites.” A ProtoStar representative declined to comment. - Tim Warren