Recent item on Loral and SatMex:
----------------------
Mexico's SatMex To Invest $230 Million In
New Satellite
AP-Dow Jones News Service
MEXICO CITY -- Mexican satellite operator Satelites Mexicanos SA, a
company formed by Telefonica Autrey SA and Loral Space &
Communications (LOR), announced Tuesday that it will invest $230 million
to launch a new satellite to substitute the existing Morelos II.
The projected investment includes the construction, launching and insurance
of the new satellite, which doesn't yet have a name, SatMex vice president
Lauro Gonzalez said at a news conference.
'With this new satellite, SatMex will become a global company with
coverage in all of Latin America,' Gonzalez said.
Gonzalez added that with the new satellite, Satmex will provide service to
500 million people in Latin America, and that company sales could reach an
annual $300 million within five years from $110 million at the end of 1997.
The construction of the new satellite will be completed by Hughes
Corporation at the end of third quarter, 1998. The satellite will be
launched by Arianne Space at the end of 1998, Gonzalez said.
The official said that in January, Satmex obtained $770.0 million in
international money markets to complete payment of the state-owned
enterprise Satelites Mexicanos and to finance the new satellite.
The Telefonica Autrey-Loral Space consortium won the bidding for a 75%
stake in SatMex on Oct. 24, 1997, for which it paid 5.37 billion pesos
(MXN8.4480=$1).
- |
