PARIS — The 26-nation Intersputnik satellite telecommunications organization reported $87.3 million in revenue in 2013, up 9 percent over 2012, and said it is negotiating with several satellite fleet operators on joint ventures using Intersputnik orbital slots and frequency reservations.
Moscow-based Intersputnik, which through its governments has regulatory reservations at multiple orbital positions that to date have remained unused — but which face the threat of revocation if they are not used by certain deadlines — said it is focusing on partnerships rather than the outright purchase of its own satellites.
“We are indeed in … negotiations with potential partners aiming at deploying, in the Intersputnik orbital slots, new spacecraft for joint operation,” Intersputnik said June 2 in an emailed response to SpaceNews inquiries. “We’ve gotten positive experience in this field with the successful projects with ABS and Spacecom.”
Intersputnik in the past has joined forces with ABS of Bermuda and Spacecom of Israel to provide satellite bandwidth to Intersputnik members. The organization now leases capacity on 22 satellites in geostationary orbit.
The new projects being assessed are for telecommunications services in South Asia, West Africa and Latin America, the organization said.
“We foresee our own future not in contracting our own satellites but having, in our jurisdiction, certain capacity on the satellites implemented within the above joint projects,” the organization said.
Intersputnik notably has a long-term agreement with Russian Satellite Communications Co. of Moscow, Russia’s biggest satellite fleet operator, under which Intersputnik has rights to sell capacity on the Express series of telecommunications satellites.
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