The Green Satellite unveils its ambition to develop Africa first
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The Green Satellite, a satellite company based in Switzerland, has decided to prioritize Africa in its satellites infrastructure deployment. The company is currently pursuing a range of satellite acquisitions aiming to offer satellite bandwidth at affordable prices.
“Our ambition is to create a different satellite market” said François Dubrulle, President and CEO of The Green Satellite “We believe our business model will offer a win-win deal where rural areas will immediately benefit of a low-cost access to the information society. Of course, it’s not bits of information that will bring wealth, but giving an access to the internet world will help to develop local business. We would be happy to modestly participate to prosperity of Africa by this mean. A support to our project by African political authorities is crucial in this regard. So are alliances with African operators.”
Other competitive technologies are not a threat to satellite according to Mr Dubrulle “We cannot afford to fight to each other. Satellite can provide solutions right now, and African people cannot wait much longer.”
The Green Satellite plans are to acquire ageing satellite seen insufficiently profitable by incumbent satellite operators. “Our talks with several operators are on-going, and we believe we will be ready before summer 2008.” according to Mr Dubrulle “We envision buying these satellites at fair prices, so no one will be frustrated. We are currently arranging a $500m+ financing structure before rolling out our infrastructure.”
Satellites will be commercially re-packaged and an original pricing system will be proposed to customers. “When you have a flight from London to New-York, sometimes you do not need much comfort, but arrive on time.” explains Mr Dubrulle.
