[Satellite News 03-31-11] Optus Satellite Director Paul Sheridan is planning to sign a launch services contract for its Optus 10 satellite by the middle of the year.
    While the company has yet to determine who will launch the 3.2-ton satellite, Sheridan told Satellite News that the operator is considering alternative launch providers during the selection process. “We are not ruling anyone out. We will consider all alternatives, including SpaceX.”
    Optus contracted Space Systems/Loral (SS/L) March 21 to build and deliver Optus 10 satellite by 2013. The satellite will be fitted with 24 Ku-band transponders on an SS/L 1300 satellite platform to accommodate missions requiring smaller satellite payloads.
    Sheridan said the satellite would serve as vital part of Optus’ infrastructure for areas without access to terrestrial telecommunications. “One of the things we have been looking at is providing resilience and more flexibility into our fleet. This gives us an ability to provide more capacity and more options going forward,” he said.
    While Sheridan previously believed that the operator had more than enough capacity to adequately address its short-term opportunities after the company added the D3 satellite to its fleet in October, he acknowledged that the Optus 10 commission marked a change in the operator’s satellite fleet development approach.
    “Optus 10 will increase the capacity we have on orbit. It will provide more flexibility and resilience to the fleet and demonstrate our commitment to customers. It shows we are staying on the forefront of technologies and that we will continue to be the leader in the provision of satellite services into Australia. We will be able to continue a number of offering we have been demonstrating to the markets in Australia and New Zealand through this investment,” he said.
    Australia’s surging satellite broadband market has provided Optus with several growth opportunities. Sheridan, however, reaffirmed the operator’s commitment to its service model despite the adaptations it has made to its satellite rollout plan. “We will continue to focus on providing broadband services via our satellites. From our point of view, Optus 10 is a Ku-band satellite. We are definitely focused on Ku-band and there are no plans right now involving Ka-band.”
    In the short-term, Optus’ 2011 growth forecast still relies primarily on its broadcast base, with its viewer-access satellite TV services enjoying strong take-up in filling blackspots created by the country’s digital switchover.
    “We have secured all the contracts to provide services to the eastern states of Australia as the government rolls out digital and switches off analog transmitters. They are replacing that with digital transmitters for television services. The coverage of analog is not as great as it is for the digital,” Sheridan said. “To ensure that nobody misses out in those black spots, we are providing services via our satellites to provide broadcast digital television services to those households. At the moment, it is just the eastern states, but there is an opportunity to address the western states, so there are some growth opportunities there.”