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NewSat passes another
Jabiru-1 milestone
NewSat has edged along its Jabiru-1 satellite
project, with the execution of final financing
documents the latest milestone to be passed.
NewSat told the Australian Securities Exchange
that key funding bodies the US Ex-Im Bank and
France's COFACE, along with some other parties
involved in the financing, have executed the
documents for the US$611 million of funding for
the project.
NewSat is now completing the compliance program
for the transaction. The documents that were
executed include the Common Terms Agreement,
Export-Import Bank Facility Agreement, COFACE
Facility Agreement, Reserve Facility Agreement,
Inter-creditor Deed and Security Trust Deed.
Following the execution of the financing
documents, NewSat made a further progress
payment of US$45 million to satellite
construction firm Lockheed Martin. Progress
payments to Lockheed Martin for the construction
of the Jabiru -1 satellite now total US$72
million.
The project had already passed a preliminary
design review and Lockheed Martin will advance
to the critical design phase and review, which
is expected to be conducted this year.
As previously reported in CommsDay, NewSat has
also been negotiating to expand its teleports in
both South Australia and Western Australia to
support the project. It has been negotiating a
lease on land adjacent to its current facility
in Perth, while the acquisition of land adjacent
to the existing Adelaide teleport facility took
place in May.
NewSat said a development application for the
Adelaide site is currently being finalised and
will be lodged with the local government
authorities in the coming weeks. NewSat plans to
spend $4 million to double its area in Mawson
Lakes in South Australia and add networks and
infrastructure to support the establishment of
the Jabiru satellite control facility and Jabiru
customer support centre.
The selection of the vendor for the satellite
control system has been completed. In addition,
proposals will be sought from industry for
ground antennas and related infrastructure
required to communicate with the Jabiru-1
satellite.
Geoff Long, CommsDay |
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