Saudi Arabia and the Emirates strengthen their presence in the secure satellite communications market with Airbus

The two main satellite communication operators in the Arabian Peninsula and the Arab world, the Emirate company Al Yah Satellite Communications Company - better known as Yahsat - and the Arabsat organization led by Saudi Arabia, have selected the European industrial corporation Airbus to build the first copies of their future satellite systems.

King Salman bin Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia and the vice president and prime minister of the Emirates and emir of Dubai, Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, have each given the go-ahead for Arabsat and Yahsat to contract Airbus Defence and Space for the new BADR-8 (Arabsat) and Thuraya 4-NGS (Yahsat) satellites with which to promote the expansion of the two companies regionally and globally. The decision comes at a time when both countries want to show that they want to increase their presence and influence throughout the world.

The CEOs of Yahsat and Arabsat, Masood Sharif Mahmood and Khalid Balkheyour respectively, have accepted and signed by telematic means a few days ago the offer presented by the director of Airbus Space Systems, Jean-Marc Nasr. Based on the European entity's new Eurostar Neo platform, it will give life to the first satellites with which the two Arab operators are going to boost their service offer and signal coverage over the countries of the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia.

In the three regions mentioned, Yahsat and Arabsat are well established among business and government clients. But South America and Africa are also targets. Masood Sharif Mahmood and his equivalent of the American company Hughes Network Systems, Pradman Kaul, set up a couple of joint ventures in 2018 and 2019 to provide mobile telephony, data and internet via community Wi-Fi access points to individuals and companies in Brazil and the Black Continent.

Headquartered in Abu Dhabi - the capital of the Emirates - and owned by the government investment group Mubadala Investment, Yahsat is the official provider of voice, data, television, internet and secure communications services to the ministries and official institutions of the Emirate Government - Health, Water and Energy Management, among many others - and its Armed Forces.

The military field of encrypted and secure connections is one of the growth sectors envisaged by Yahsat and Arabsat, which is why the two satellites ordered from Airbus will have equipment on board to prevent interference and a processing system to modify the orientation of their signals at will.

Although the Thuraya 4-NGS and BADR-8 have a different external appearance, both include an all-electric propulsion system, which will enable them to remain in orbit for more than 15 years, which is the current average lifespan of a communications satellite. All of this equipment and some more are featured on the Spanish Spainsat NG satellites that Airbus manufactures for the Spanish operator Hisdesat.

Like the Spanish Spainsat NG, the Emirate and Saudi Arabian satellites will be assembled and tested in Toulouse (France), but their construction will involve the various Airbus Space Systems production centres in Germany, Belgium, France, the United Kingdom and Spain, which will contribute their various parts and equipment once the workload is shared out in the coming weeks. The Spanish headquarters are located in Barajas and Tres Cantos (Madrid) and are centres of excellence in the design, development and manufacture of structures, flat and parabolic antennas, thermal control and electronic equipment. 

The Emirate operator is going to invest in the order of 500 million dollars in the manufacture and launch of the Thuraya 4-NGS, which is due to be put into orbit in 2024 to replace the Thuraya-2 at the 44º East orbital position. The estimated investment includes the insurance policy, the improvement of the ground control facilities and an option to have preference in the delivery of a second similar satellite, the Thuraya 5-NGS.

With its launch into orbit, the aim is to improve the speed, quality and quantity of connections in emerging and strategic business areas, particularly in the maritime and airspace sectors, Internet of Things (IoT) and voice messaging, especially in the government and military spheres.

The future Thuraya 4-NGS represents one of the major steps in Yahsat's commitment to transform and re-launch Thuraya, which it acquired in August 2018 and which provides mobile communications services. Thuraya's two satellites, well known for their mobile phones, provide low speed L-band telephony and data services. 

In the case of Arabsat, it has contracted the BARD-8 satellite for just over USD 300 million, which also includes putting it into orbit in 2023, insurance and new ground control and monitoring infrastructure. Its cost is much lower than that of the Thuraya 4-NGS as it will have, among other differentiating elements, a large parabolic antenna as an umbrella, 12 metres in diameter and of great complexity, with the capacity to manage 3,200 channels.

The BADR-8 is due to extend the capabilities provided so far by the seven Arabsat mills, a space fleet larger than the sum of Yahsat and Thuraya that also covers the territory and territorial waters of the countries of the Middle East, North Africa, Central Asia and much of Europe.

With Saudi Arabia's Khalid Balkheyour at the helm of the company that manages and markets Arabsat's satellites, the Arab Satellite Communications Organization was founded in 1976 to provide satellite communications services to private users and public and private entities in the Arab States. With 21 member countries, Saudi Arabia is the largest shareholder - with 36.7% of the capital - so the headquarters of the entity is in Riyadh.

The future holds that Arabsat and Yahsat are going to fight for leadership in space communications. Yahsat-Thuraya's senior management, consisting of President Khaled al-Qubaisi and Chief Executive Officers Masood M. Sharif Mahmood (Yahsat) and Ali al-Hashemi (Thuraya), aim to ensure that the synergy between the two companies will enhance the Emirates' global position in the field of highly reliable fixed and mobile connections over the next 20 years.