HK-based company to boost satellite
coverage in Subic

Philippine Daily Inquirer
By Paolo Montecillo
Saturday, January 30, 2010

A HONG KONG-BASED firm will pour $5 million into Subic Bay, Philippines, over the next two years to put Filipinos at the helm of up to five satellites that can cover most of the globe.

Asia Broadcast Satellite (ABS), which recently acquired Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) unit Mabuhay Satellite Corp., said it planned to turn the local firm’s Subic facility into a world class satellite operating hub.

“The acquisition of Mabuhay is very strategic ... because of the many synergies it creates in combining Mabuhay’s range of applications, operational expertise and business relationships with our future growth and long-term objectives,” ABS president Tom Choi said in a recent briefing.

“Our main satellite controlling sector will be located in the Philippines.”

Choi said the investment would fund the expansion of the Subic facility and the acquisition of more up-to-date equipment to make operations more efficient.

He said the Subic facility, which operates the country’s lone satellite Agila-2, would be improved to enable it to control up to five satellites.

ABS will add Agila-2 to its current fleet of three satellites, covering Asia, Russia, Africa and the Atlantic.

The company also plans to build an additional satellite, worth $200 million, to add to its current fleet.

With the acquisition, ABS gains Mabuhay’s current customers including Bayan Telecommunications, GMA Network and Dream Cable.

But on its own, ABS also offers network services mostly to broadcast and telecommunications companies in Europe, Asia, Africa and the United States.

ABS said the company chose to acquire the local firm due to the low cost of maintaining operations while providing world class services.

The merger of the two companies was the result of PLDT’s sale of its 67-percent stake in Mabuhay, which the telecom giant announced in November of last year.

Mabuhay, which was incorporated in 2004, is the first Philippine company to own and run a communications satellite.

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