[Satellite News 12-17-09] Ondas Media hopes to bring a successful satellite radio platform to Europe but has experienced a setback in its plans due to the anomaly that occurred on Solaris Mobile’s W2A satellite in July, Ondas CEO David Krueger told Satellite News.
     “We had high hopes for Solaris and the W2A satellite,” said Krueger. “They are going through the final elements of resolving the anomaly on their satellite. There maybe other opportunities that would help us begin broadcasting. Certainly, everyone was looking forward to watching these new services with this new 2 gigahertz frequency band that Europe has assigned.”
    Krueger hopes to demonstrate Ondas’ new satellite radio service next year across a variety of Internet, terrestrial and satellite networks in preparation for a full commercial launch in 2012, and despite issues with W2A, he remains open to a partnership with Solaris for Europe. “Solaris is the only one with a 2 gigahertz satellite currently in Europe. We do have other options, but that is the one that is most suited for what we want to demonstrate here We are hopeful they will finish their process up and be available for supporting our project in the near future,” he said.
    In the meantime, Ondas will spend time addressing other challenges, such as financing the platform ahead of commercial launch and finding a successful formula to sell satellite radio, a platform that has experienced difficulties in other global markets due to slow growth and an even slower consumer economy, according to Krueger. “The economy has clearly had an impact on everybody. We have become more focused and continue to raise money. We will need financing ahead of service launch. We will continue to pursue financing over the next few years,” he said.
    Krueger also separates Ondas from its North American counterpart by its current position and flexibility to establish a strong business plan, supported by recent content deals with Jazz FM and RTL Radio. “XM and Sirius have invested more than $5 billion in the infrastructure of the business. They had to buy their own satellites. Sirius and XM entered into some very difficult relationships with manufacturers. The technology was not proven. The service was not proven. It was extremely difficult to get a new technology into a vehicle and convince car manufacturers about installing it,” he said.
   One of Krueger’s business model ideas focuses on using capacity from a variety of source and supplementing it with terrestrial networks in Europe. “Instead of having to build every single component, including the terrestrial repeaters, we intend to do this through strategic partnerships,” he said.
    If his plan works, Krueger is confident that satellite radio will be a success in Europe. “Europeans want to have satellite radio. We are certain that the technology works and it’s proven. The car industry is also keen to adopt the technology,” he said. “Our confidence comes from the fact that we have been able to meet our objectives. We have raised money to support our objectives in 2010, and we are in a good position going forward.”