Spacecom, or Space Communication (), is an Israeli

communications satellite A communications satellite is an artificial satellite that relays and amplifies radio telecommunication signals via a Transponder (satellite communications), transponder; it creates a communication channel between a source transmitter and a Rad ...

operator in the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

and

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

headquartered in the city of

Ramat Gan Ramat Gan (, ) is a city in the Tel Aviv District of Israel, located east of the municipality of Tel Aviv, and is part of the Gush Dan, Gush Dan metropolitan area. It is home to a Diamond Exchange District (one of the world's major diamond exch ...

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

. Spacecom operates two satellites at orbital position 4° West –

AMOS-3 AMOS-3, also known as AMOS-60, is an Israeli communications satellite operated by Spacecom Satellite Communications. History Spacecom Satellite Communications has signed an agreement in September 2005 with Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI ...

and AMOS-7, one satellite at orbital position 65° East –

AMOS-4 AMOS-4 is an Israeli commercial communications satellite, operated by Spacecom Satellite Communications, Tel Aviv-based, part of the AMOS series of satellites. History Spacecom, the AMOS satellites operator, announced in 2007 that it has ...

, and one satellite at orbital position 17° East – AMOS-5.

History

Spacecom was established in 1993 with the defined goal of marketing AMOS-1, a newly built communication satellite manufactured by

Israel Aerospace Industries Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI; ), is Israel's major aerospace and aviation manufacturer, producing aerial and astronautic systems for both military and civilian usage. It has 14,000 employees as of 2021. IAI is state-owned by the government ...

(IAI). In 2003, Spacecom launched its second satellite,

AMOS-2 AMOS-2 is an Israeli commercial second generation communication satellite, part of the AMOS series of satellites. The satellite was positioned at 4° West longitude in the geostationary orbit. Transmission and communication services given by ...

, owned entirely by the company. In 2008, the AMOS-3 satellite was launched to replace AMOS-1 and increase coverage and traffic abilities. Until 2005, Spacecom was a private company controlled by four companies, including IAI and Eurocom Group. It went public on the

Tel Aviv Stock Exchange The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE; ), colloquially known as The Bursa, is the only public stock exchange in Israel and a public company itself, listed on its own exchange since August 1, 2019. It is regulated by the ''Securities Law (1968)'' a ...

in 2005. In August 2016, Spacecom shareholders agreed to sell the company for US$500 million to Beijing Xinwei Technology Group (

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

) via a

Luxembourg Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...

business entity. The deal, announced 24 August 2016, was pending the successful entry into service of AMOS-6 after the launch. On 1 September 2016, two days before the scheduled launch date, the satellite was destroyed during the run-up to a static fire test of the

Falcon 9 Falcon 9 is a Reusable launch system#Partial reusable launch systems, partially reusable, two-stage-to-orbit, medium-lift launch vehicle designed and manufactured in the United States by SpaceX. The first Falcon 9 launch was on June 4, 2010, an ...

launch vehicle A launch vehicle is typically a rocket-powered vehicle designed to carry a payload (a crewed spacecraft or satellites) from Earth's surface or lower atmosphere to outer space. The most common form is the ballistic missile-shaped multistage ...

. Later statements from both companies stated that negotiations were ongoing, but that the purchase price was likely to be reduced. However, by April 2017 talks between Spacecom and Xinwei had failed, and Spacecom began a new search for buyers. In October 2021 Spacecom and 4iG Plc., a Hungarian information technology and telecommunications company, signed an agreement in which 4iG is acquiring a majority stake (51%) in Spacecom.

Coverage

Spacecom satellites provide coverage to most of the

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

and

Sub-Saharan Africa Sub-Saharan Africa is the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lie south of the Sahara. These include Central Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa, and West Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the list of sovereign states and ...

Services

* Direct-to-Home broadcasting ( DTH) * Broadband telephony *

Satellite Internet Satellite Internet access is Internet access provided through communication satellites; if it can sustain high speeds, it is termed satellite broadband. Modern consumer grade satellite Internet service is typically provided to individual use ...

VSAT A very-small-aperture terminal (VSAT) is a two-way satellite ground station with a satellite dish, dish antenna that is smaller than 3.8 meters. The majority of VSAT antennas range from 75 cm to 1.2 m. Bit rates, in most cases, range from 4 ...

Radio Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connec ...

Fleet

''Former'' * AMOS-1 *

(4° West) * AMOS-5 (17° East) – Israeli satellite launched from

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...

in 2011 by Russia's

Proton-M The Proton-M, (Протон-М) GRAU index 8K82M or , is an Expendable launch system, expendable Russian heavy-lift launch vehicle derived from the Soviet Union, Soviet-developed Proton (rocket family), Proton. It is built by Khrunichev State R ...

launch vehicle to provide services to customers in Africa. AMOS-5 initiated commercial operations in early 2012 with C-band and

Ku-band The Ku band () is the portion of the electromagnetic spectrum in the microwave range of frequencies from 12 to 18 gigahertz (GHz). The symbol is short for "K-under" (originally ), because it is the lower part of the original NATO K band ...

beams. On 21 November 2015, all communications with the AMOS-5 satellite were lost. ''In orbit'' *

(4° West) *

(65° East) – was successfully launched on 31 August 2013 from Baikonur, Kazakhstan. It will offer coverage across Southeast Asia along with high power coverage beams offering communication links from East Asia to the Middle East. * AMOS-7 (4° West) – Lease of AsiaSat 8

References

External links