Kacific Broadband Satellites Pte Ltd (Kacific) today announced that it has ordered its Kacific-1 satellite from The Boeing Company (Boeing) based on the 702 satellite platform. This condominium satellite will be shared with JCSAT-18, ordered by SKY Perfect JSAT Corporation.
Kacific closed a US$147 million financing round in late 2016 with a mix of equity, debt and customer prepayments which covers the purchase of the satellite, launch service, ground systems and all other project costs. To secure this funding, Kacific has signed 15 managed bandwidth wholesale agreements in 14 different countries for a total value of US$434 million.
Kacific-1 is designed to deliver uncontended broadband throughput via 57 Ka-band narrow beams, each having a capacity up to 1.25Gbps, with the highest signal power ever achieved in the region. The beams are selectively tailored to cover precise pockets of demand in a geographically dispersed footprint of 20 Pacific and South East Asian nations. Strategic positioning of the beams has enabled Kacific to sell capacity in 51 out of 57 beams so far, through take-or-pay contracts, with most beams exceeding 70 percent firm capacity bookings and several being almost saturated.
Kacific selected the Boeing 702 because it is a reliable High Throughput Satellite platform delivering strong economics and a consistent high-quality connectivity across all service beams.
“Boeing is pleased Kacific has chosen our flight-proven scalable 702 satellite for its next-generation broadband satellite service,” said Mark Spiwak, president of Boeing Satellite Systems International. “The capability and performance of the Boeing 702 satellite will enable Kacific to meet increasing demands for connectivity in the Asia-Pacific region, reaching new and underserved markets with reliable and cost-effective satellite internet services.”
“We do pure play broadband. We focus on direct-to-premise. We precisely place capacity where it is most needed,” said Christian Patouraux, Kacific CEO. “This will yield price points that will unleash internet participation and usage. With the launch of Kacific-1, in 2019, people in areas currently lacking affordable high speed internet will be able to access online education, healthcare and public services, and grow their local economies. Delivering internet speeds over 100 Mbps on low cost, small form factor terminals, will help connect the dots of South East Asia and the Pacific to the digital world”.
Driven by its entrepreneurial culture and early sales success in Asia-Pacific, Kacific is now expanding its model to other regions with plans for follow-on satellites.
About Kacific
Kacific Broadband Satellites Pte Ltd is a Singapore-based satellite operator developing a high-speed broadband offering for underserved, remote and rural markets with disseminated pockets of population. It addresses the gap in supply with specifically designed satellites using the latest multi-beam and high throughput space communications and ground technology transmitting over the Ka Band.
Using cost-effective technology and a lean business model Kacific aims to provide better broadband quality at significantly less than current retail prices, fostering greater internet usage and fuelling economic growth and improvements in service delivery across covered regions, with its first deployment focusing on South East Asia and the Pacific.
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