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The Communications Center has been
in business as a satellite telecommunications consulting firm
since 1980. In these years, we have established
expertise in all three areas necessary to make financial
comparisons: the underlying technology, the market
requirements and size, and the economics. This
makes the Communications Center unique and unusually well
qualified to provide appraisals, due diligence and specialized
reports regarding satellites and satellite systems.
If appropriate, the Communications Center will employ such
tools as the discounted cash-flow, using transponder rates
which are adjusted to the particular capacity being offered by
the carrier, for the type of technology being deployed and the
risks involved.
The Communications Center has established many internal tools
and libraries that are applied to particular situations.
These include an up-to-date in-house library of all the recent
filings at the International Telecommunications Union in
Geneva and all of the satellite filings for the FCC over the
last 15 years. Our library also contains what is
probably the world's largest commercial collection of
information on the performance of and planning for commercial
satellites. These resources are for the exclusive use of
our staff.
In addition to the existing reference resources, we also have
a research earth station that is used to inventory the uses
and condition of the U.S., Canadian, and Mexican satellite
markets on a quarterly
basis. We have established a long running database
(stretching back more than 10 years) that shows the changes in
the types of services and the quantities of transponders using
these satellites. As far as we know, this is the only
database in existence of this type. Obviously, the work
is very labor-intensive since we must examine the contents of
several hundred transponders, one at a time. The
research station is also used to setup and run special
experiments for our clients. We have also collected a
tremendous amount of information on the uses of satellite
transponders in other parts of the world, especially Europe
and Asia.
These data are stored in proprietary databases.
Here are some
examples of the Due Diligence Services that the
Communications Center has provided.
Societe
Europeene des Satellites (Astra)
Selected from a field of
five to perform the technical due diligence with
regard to the Initial Public Offering (I.P.O.) of
the S.E.S. stock of Luf 41.8 billion (US$1.1
billion). This study was conducted in Betzdorf,
Luxembourg. This analysis was performed on behalf
of Deutsche Bank, DKB and Morgan Stanley Dean
Witter. S.E.S. operates the Astra series of
satellites that serve Europe.
S.E.S later
requested that the Communications Center perform due diligences
as they grew into the SES Global giant.
Iridium
Assisted the Sanwa Bank
to determine the commercial and technical
feasibility of Iridium.
At the time, we advised
zero to token participation in funding Iridium
because of the technical and market risks that we
identified and lack of any obvious alternative
use that would support a multi-million dollar
investment.
Asian Cellular
Satellite (ACeS)
We were requested by,
a leading European bank, to conduct a due
diligence of the ACeS system. We visited the key
space segment manufacturers (Lockheed Martin and
Harris), the ground segment (COMSAT RSI) and the
consumer segment (Ericsson).
Eurasiasat
We were selected by the
London office of the Chase Manhattan to conduct
the due diligence on a tight schedule that was
met despite a frustrating hiatus due to a Board
of Directors meeting.
This satellite system is
a joint venture of Alcatel and Turk Telecom. It’s
unique orbital location provides coverage of
Europe, Africa and parts of Asia. It has been marketed to the widespread
populations of Turks and the former Soviet
republics ending in "-stan".
Only the space segment
was involved, thus the visits were limited to the
manufacturer.
A review of the priority
of Eurasiasat’s ITU registration was
conducted.
The satellite was also
appraised using the discounted cash flow (DCF)
method.
AssureSat
This is a unique system
comprised of three C-/Ku-band satellites. Each
can be cloned to replace some other satellite
that has failed in orbit.
The Communications Center
analyzed how many of the current and under
construction satellites could be effectively
replaced by an AssureSat. This involved
simultaneously considering the coverage,
frequency and power capabilities.
In addition to the
intended use, a separate study was conducted to
determine the marketability of the satellites in
case the original Business Plan was unsuccessful.
The fair market value of the satellite(s) to
third parties in three geographical areas were
determined using the DCF and comparative sales
methods.
MacDonald Dettwiler
Orbital Sciences
Corporation made an offer to acquire MacDonald
Dettwiler of Canada for stock. The Communications
Center was retained by Nesbitt-Burns and
MacDonald Dettwiler to determine the historical
relationship between events at OSC (successes,
failures, press releases, etc.) and the price of
the OSC stock.
Orbcomm for
Teleglobe
Teleglobe engaged the
Communications Center to conduct an analysis of
the technical aspects of the Orbcomm low earth
orbit messaging satellite system. At the time,
the first two satellites were in the early
construction phase. These were the first
"little LEO" satellites and use the low
(VHF and UHF) frequencies.
AMSC for the
Canadian Export Development Corporation
The CEDC provides financing to Canadian
industry for exported items. In this case, Spar Aerospace Ltd.
of Montreal was building the payload for the AMSC mobile satellite
and the CEDC needed an appraisal of the spacecraft at various
stages of its construction and operation. The spacecraft was
the collateral for the loan.
COMMUNICATIONS CENTER
2723 Green Valley Road
Clarksburg, MD 20871
E-mail: info @ communications-center.com
Telephone: 1-301-831-6700
Facsimile: 1-301-865-5577
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