Boeing Wins $1.3 Billion Contract from Mexico
The Mexican government will pay Boeing $1.31 billion to deliver an “end-to-end satellite communications system,” the company said Monday. The delivery consists of three satellites: One fixed satellite services satellite and two mobile satellite services satellite. Boeing said it will contract out construction of the FSS satellite to Orbital Sciences. The system will also include two ground sites, associated network operations systems and user terminals, said Boeing. The contract is Boeing’s second $1 billion, three-satellite contract within five months, after a major deal with Inmarsat (CD Aug 9 p9).
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The new satellite system, known as MexSat, will allow for increased national security and civil communications, said Boeing. The MSS satellites, MexSat-1 and MexSat-2, will provide for L-band and Ku-band communications for mobile needs, it said. Boeing will also provide about 80 user terminals to be used on Mexican planes, ships and ground vehicles to test the network, Steve O'Neil, president of Boeing Satellite Systems International, said on a conference call with reporters. After testing, it will be up to Mexico to procure additional terminals, he said. The Mexican Ministry of Communications and Transport will oversee the project.
The FSS satellite, MexSat-3, will include C- and Ku-band transponders, said Boeing. That satellite is scheduled to launch by Q3 2012 and will be the first of the three satellites to do so, the company. MexSat-3 will “will provide full coverage of Mexico and its patrimonial seas and relay civil communications for socioeconomic development,” said Boeing. The launcher and insurer of the satellites will be decided next year, said the Mexican government.
Six companies were involved in the bidding for the contract, but it came down to Boeing and Space Systems/Loral, said Juan Carlos Leal, director general of spectrum, technology and social programs for the Mexican Ministry of Communications and Transport. Space System/Loral couldn’t provide exactly what Mexico was looking for, he said. The government is trying to lessen its dependence on private enterprise for government communications, said Leal. That’s why the country decided to move forward with its own satellite system, rather than continue to use SatMex, a Mexican satellite operator that has had financial problems in recent years, he said. Boeing said it has provided five satellites that operate in Mexico.