Page 96 - SAMENA Trends - June-July 2020

SATELLITE UPDATES SAMENA TRENDS

Oman Invites bids For First National Satellite Program

Oman’s first national satellite program has Oman’s public and private sectors. The the primary TT&C [telemetry, tracking and
begun, with calls for consultancies to bid for proposed orbit slot has good visibility control subsystem] to be located in Oman,”
financial and technical advisory contracts with high elevation angles for the desired the SCT said. The company’s “operational
issued last week. Space Communications footprint. The satellite will be built using plan is based on the rental of a large
Technology LLC is leading Oman’s maiden the latest technology by leading experts capacity that meets all the requirements of
satellite communications project. It aims in the industry. “This project is considered the sultanate with high technical features
to launch the sultanate’s first satellite by as one of the strategic projects that Oman through coverage of the sultanate’s entire
2024. The project is being developed to is planning, namely to launch the first territory and its economic waters with
bolster the country's telecommunications national satellite system with national, faster high throughput data”, it said.
network and serve the evolving needs of regional and global coverage, however with

Sateliot to Launch 5G Internet of Things Satellite Constellation

Sateliot, the first satellite
telecommunications operator that
will provide global and continuous
5G connectivity to all the elements of
the Internet of Things (IoT), will invest
more than 100 million euros ($113
million) through 2022 to launch its first
constellation of nanosatellites. The
company, led by Jaume Sanpera and
other founders of the Eurona satellite
telecommunications company, will deploy
a constellation of up to 100 nanosatellites
over the next two years that will function as
low-latency telecommunications towers
for mobile operators who are deploying IoT
services in remote areas where terrestrial
networks do not reach. “Only 10% of the
land surface has mobile coverage, the first capital raise of 2.4 million euros ($2.7 indicate that 60 billion connected objects
remaining 90% does not, that is where the million) contributed by the company’s worldwide will be reached in that year.
latest generation infrastructure of Sateliot founders and business angels. Sateliot Sateliot’s technology is complementary
comes into play as a complement to is currently negotiating a financing round for IoT operators, to whom it can offer an
traditional operators to make possible the with several interested international funds extension of coverage for communications
hyper-connected universe of the IOT with for an amount in excess of 10 million services in areas such as maritime, railway,
the arrival of 5G,” Sanpera said. The first euros ($11.25 million). Sateliot is working aeronautics, connected vehicles, oil and
two nanosatellites, which will be the size of with various partners to demonstrate gas exploration, electrical services, critical
a microwave oven, will provide low-latency the service and sign user agreements. infrastructure, agro-technology and
IoT services from low Earth orbit after they Those partners include a technology environmental monitoring. Sateliot will
are launched in late 2020. The rest of the laboratory in Asia and an operator in the be the first satellite telecommunications
constellation will be launched by the end United States with which Sateliot plans operator that will provide global and
of 2022 to provide global coverage to IoT to create a consortium. The European continuous connectivity to all IoT
operators. Sateliot’s British partner, Open Space Agency is providing advice on elements under a 5G architecture. Thanks
Cosmos, will manufacture the satellites the development and execution of the to a constellation of the latest generation
and manage their launch and operations. project. Sateliot believes the IoT market nanosatellites, Sateliot will provide large
The objective of Sateliot’s business plan with satellite connectivity will offer ample telecommunications companies with the
is to close 2022 with a turnover of around potential in the coming years. According necessary infrastructure in areas where
400 million euros ($453 million) and a total to estimates by Riot Research, this market terrestrial technologies do not reach.
workforce of over 100 people. To make will be worth more than 5.4 billion euros
this possible, Sateliot has completed its ($6.1 billion) in 2025. Forecasts also

96 JUNE-JULY 2020