Ciel Satellite, which recently announced that Alcatel Alenia Space will build its Ciel-2 satellite, does not expect any further satellite initiatives until at least 2007. David Lewis, president and COO of Ciel Satellite told Satellite News, "We really don’t have any other satellite construction plans apart from the Ciel 2 satellite," he said. "Industry Canada will probably award additional orbital slot licences very close to the end of this year, and then we will have to go through an RFP process and choose a vendor. So, the earliest we would be spending additional capital on other satellites would be for satellite construction programs sometime in 2007."

In terms of how things work in Canada with Industry Canada, Lewis said, "Ciel is a Canadian owned and controlled satellite operator in Canada. We obtain our orbital slot licences from Industry Canada, which is the administration/government body that get the orbital decisions from the [International Telecommunications Union]. From a long-term competitive prospect, we believe that Industry Canada will be conducting a competitive selection process to award additional orbital slots later this spring."

Why Alcatel?

The choice of Alcatel Alenia Space to build the Ciel-2 satellite, a geostationary communications satellite positioned at 129 degrees West which will deliver services throughout North America, was a "rigorous" process, which was really run by SES Global, a shareholder in Ciel Satellite, a Canadian independent satellite facilities operator.

Lewis admits it was a difficult choice to go with Alcatel. "SES has a contract with us to provide consulting arrangements with respect to procurement of the Ciel-2 satellite," he said. "They ran the RFP and selection process and it was their team that made a recommendation. In the end, Ciel probably could have been happy with any one of the three vendors that made the short list. They were all very competitive and close in terms of price and performance, however Alcatel were slightly better in both price and performance."

Ciel 2 will be the fifth Spacebus satellite ordered by SES, with four currently operating in the Americom fleet — AMC-5, AMC-9, AMC-12 and AMC-23.

"This contract further strengthens the solid relationship between our company and the SES family of companies," Pascale Sourisse, president and CEO of Alcatel Alenia Space, said in a statement. "This was a very competitive and rigorous procurement, so we are pleased to have earned this opportunity to build a satellite for Canada’s Ciel Satellite."

Building A Market In Canada

The challenge now for the operator will be to build its presence in the Canadian communications market. Finding customers will be a major challenge. "We need to find the right customers for each new satellite," Lewis said. "These are difficult challenges. Ciel is a wholesaler. We would be looking for customers that have retail interests or large capacity requirements as anchor tenants. So, depending on the orbital location and frequency band, each slot would be different for potential interested customers."

Satellite communications plays a key role in Canada. With a number of small, rural communities dotted about the country, the operator is in a position to serve all areas of the country. Because of its geography, Lewis admits that satellite communications will be a vital part of the Canadian communications landscape.

However, it may be two years before Canadians will really benefit from Ciel’s plans. "On the two-year horizon, we probably would not have any of our new slots bought into service or the ability to serve from Canada from any of those slots until we get the Ciel-2 satellite up," Lewis said. "We are currently using Echostar 5 in our 129 orbital slot. That satellite does not really have coverage of Canada, therefore we don’t have anything to offer Canada until we get the Ciel-2 satellite in 2008, which will have much improved coverage of Canada."

Contact, David Lewis, Ciel Satellite, e-mail, [email protected]