WASHINGTON — Soaring demand for backup connectivity after subsea cables were cut in the Red Sea is helping push Rivada Space Networks closer to fully financing its $2.4 billion constellation plans, according to CEO Declan Ganley.
In the weeks following an incident affecting a quarter of the internet traffic passing between Asia, Europe, and the Middle East, Ganley said March 20 that enterprises have been flocking to the company to learn how its proposed low Earth orbit (LEO) network could provide redundant connectivity between continents.
This redundant connectivity need is “something that I hadn’t really fully anticipated in our order pipeline,” he said during the Satellite Conference here, and “may end up being, I would say, in the first 10 contracts that we actually sign” with customers.
He said Rivada Space, a German subsidiary of U.S.-based wireless technology firm Rivada Networks, has Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) agreements with potential customers worth more than $7 billion that it is starting to convert into firm contracts.
The company is also seeking government customers for a network of up to 600 broadband satellites, which would be equipped with optical communications links to avoid the need for terrestrial relay stations.
Customer commitments are critical for attracting equity investors to support the constellation, which paves the way for debt that typically funds the biggest portion of a project backed by an export credit agency.
“We had our first sovereign wealth fund come in towards the end of last year,” Ganley said.
“We expect to have a second one — and possibly even a third one — in the very near term. We have two major strategic investors that are also heavily engaged with us, one that has already made an investment, and we expect to follow through with a significant investment very soon.”
Ganley has shied away from detailing financing plans since acquiring priority Ka-band…
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