[Satellite News 01-28-09] Swedish Space Corp.’s (SSC) company’s acquisition of Universal Space Network (USN) will satisfy customers who wanted a one-stop shop for commercial satellite tracking services, SSC CEO Lars Persson said.
    SSC reached an agreement Jan. 21 to purchase all of USN’s stock, combining the two companies that have been cooperating on projects such as PrioraNet,  a global satellite tracking service for civil space, commercial and public missions, since 1999.
    “Customers have been telling us it is very important to have a one-stop shop, and to have one network and one partner to talk to,” Persson told Satellite News. “So from the perspective of listening to our customers it is a very important deal for us. … It is important for Swedish Space Corporation and our partnership in PrioraNet to move forward. We prefer to talk about this acquisition as a merger between the parties. We will now become the largest independent commercial ground station network. We have been working together for about 10 years. We have had a good partnership for 10 years, and now it is time to marry.”
    Joe Rothenberg, USN’s president and customer service officer added, “Throughout this process the primary focus has been on increasing the robustness of our current space communications services while expanding the breadth of commercially based mission critical space operations services to the space industry. We believe that this integration will result in a higher quality of service that will continue to enable more efficient development and execution of innovative space programs.”
    USN will continue as an independent operation owned by SSC, Persson said. “That is important. They will continue to work independently on the U.S. market. We will have a new board coming in with security-cleared U.S. citizens. We will take the synergies where we can. We will use the unified network where the customers agree to that. We have been working so closely together over the years, We have already been working together on the marketing side and on the networks side. We don´t foresee that there will be any substantial changes in operations.”

Growing Network
    The acquisition USN is the latest in a string of acquisitions for SSC, which is developing an expansive ground station network. “We bought the Santiago satellite station from University of Chile in August last year. We are also investing together with partners in a new site in Northern Canada. We are building an independent polar orbiting satellite network that will have redundancies. Through PrioraNet, we will also provide customers with exceptional coverage for all mission phases, including launch which can be the most critical part,” he said.
    Other acquisitions at this stage for SSC is this area are unlikely, said Persson. “We don’t need to do any more acquisitions, that is of course, if it is good for customers, we could do it. The deal with USN and Chile were quite natural deals because we were already in partnership.”
    SSC is expecting strong revenue growth in 2009 and does not expect to see any slowdowns due to the economic crisis. “In terms of overall revenues, we expect to grow by 30 percent in 2009,” Persson said. “More than 80 percent of our expected revenues is already contracted. We have a huge backlog of contracts that covers the next 10 years. This is not quarterly business. This is long-term business. … We think the market for us will grow due to the economic constraints. We are certain the industry will outsource more so as not to have the costs in-house. Instead they will buy services rather than invest in their own infrastructure. This is a business where you have economies of scale, so we will continue to grow with our customers.”