One of the lesser-known Ka-band satellite contenders may beat Hughes Spaceway and Lockheed Martin-backed Astrolink into commercial service. The outsider is iSky, formerly known as KaStar.

The company was founded in 1995 by David M. Drucker, also involved in starting Echostar, a neighbour in Englewood, Colorado. Drucker remains on board as chairman. More in the public eye nowadays is president and CEO Tom Moore, previously vice-president at CableLabs. In May 1997, the FCC awarded KaStar two FSS Ka-band slots, at 73 and 109.2 degrees West.

Current shareholders in the venture include original backer DirectCom (its 42 per cent stake has shrunk to 19.1 per cent shared with TV Guide). Other planned shareholders are Televerde (35.25 per cent); Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, a venture capitalist (20.4 per cent); and newcomer Liberty Media (19.8 per cent). Liberty is clearly spreading its bets, since it also holds a major (30 per cent plus) stake in Astrolink.

KaStar, as it then was, approached Space Systems/Loral (SS/L) as recently as 1998 to talk about building satellites. The company was reportedly guarded, given that KaStar seemed to have limited resources behind it. Nevertheless, SS/L did perform some initial design work. Earlier this year, apparently encouraged by the appearance of new backers for what has since become iSky, SS/L contracted to build just one satellite, not the two for which FCC authorisation had been granted. Normally, unless the two spacecraft are intended to be radically different, it would not be cost-effective to split the order between two manufacturers, so this looks like financial caution on the part of Loral.

The satellite ordered, to be positioned at 109.2 degrees West, is described as an 1300 model, with eight scanning antennas to generate 41 spotbeams covering North America; power output is put at 10kW.

The operation received powerful support last week, when Arianespace announced that its finance arm would be providing vendor financing to the tune of “Over $100 million” to iSky in return for launching both satellites, the first in the third quarter of 2001 and the second, when ordered and built, in mid-2002. The financing is described as becoming available “during construction and in the longer term”. According to an Arianespace spokesman at the Evry, France, head office last Friday, these deals are not yet firmly contracted but are only the subjects of agreements. It is believed that Arianespace has a similar deal with Ellipso, the Global Mobile contender.

iSky wants to provide “always-on” Internet connections at a standard rate of 1.5Mbps via DTH-type dishes for customers in parts of the Americas beyond the reach of cable, ADSL or other terrestrial feeds. The company claims that 25-30 million US homes, and 70-80 million in Latin America, fall into this category.