Mubadala-owned Yahsat reveals plans to launch third satellite

Yahsat launched its second satellite Y1B, above, in Kazakhstan. Courtesy Mubadala

Abu Dhabi’s Yahsat has announced plans to launch its third satellite, extending coverage of its satellite broadband service, YahClick, to Latin America for the first time.

The new satellite – named Al Yah 3 – will be launched in 2016.

Yahsat, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Government's strategic investment vehicle Mubadala Development, said yesterday that the new satellite would expand its Ka-band coverage – which offers satellite broadband and backhaul services for telecoms networks – to an additional 17 countries and 600 million users across Latin America and Africa.

This will include coverage for more than 95 per cent of the population in Brazil.

The YahClick broadband service, launched commercially in 2012, had 20,000 subscribers across 12 countries at the end of last year. A spokesman for the company said that its subscriber base had grown in the past six months but declined to give further details.

Yahsat’s first satellite, Y1A, was launched in April 2011, followed by Y1B a year later.

Both of the company’s satellites were built and launched by a joint venture consisting of EADS’s Astrium and Thales Alenia Space.

A company spokesman declined to comment on who would build and launch Al Yah 3, saying that an announcement would come shortly.

“Al Yah 3 marks another milestone for Yahsat, expanding our footprint to new markets and reinforcing our vision to be the global partner of choice for reliable, innovative and affordable satellite solutions,” said Yahsat’s chief executive Masood Sharif Mahmood.

“The success of both Y1A and Y1B in providing government, NGO, consumer and corporate services has given us the drive to explore new growth avenues.”

Yahsat chief commercial officer, Shawkat Ahmed, said in March that the company was considering expanding its satellite fleet.

“With the launch of Al Yah 3, we are well positioned to reach our goal of becoming a global leader in the provision of advanced satellite services,” said Homaid Al Shemmari, the chief executive of Aerospace and Engineering Services at Mubadala.

“The launch of the company’s third satellite within less than a decade of operation is a clear signal of the UAE aerospace industry’s intentions for the future.”

Yahsat said the third satellite would place it as the world’s eighth largest operator in terms of revenue.

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