Hawaii teleport operators invest in Mabuhay Satellite

Mabuhay Philippines Satellite Corp. (MPSC), a PLDT subsidiary and owner and operator of the Agila II satellite, reported that major teleport operators in Kapolei, Hawaii have invested a combined amount of around $10 million over the past two years as a result of Agila II’s coverage over Hawaii and Asia.

The investments made by these teleports were mostly in the form of 4.5-meter, nine-meter, 11-meter, and 13-meter communications antennas; building; and facilities in anticipation of increased transpacific communications via Hawaii, Johnson Regalado, senior marketing manager of MPSC said.

The increased ground capacity of these teleport operators is supportive of Agila II’s ability to offer transpacific reach all the way to any point on the US mainland," he said.

In 1999, Kapolei major teleport operator Loral Cyberstar (MPSC’s biggest customer), began with a single 13-meter antenna pointed to Agila II mainly for its Internet via satellite service. Subsequently, USAsia Telecom (formerly Sky Tiger.Net and a subsidiary of Mitsubishi Corp.), Vision Accomplished, and Transvision International have invested in dishes also pointing to Agila II for broadcasting, telecommunications, and Internet via satellite applications.

According to Regalado, with the majority of antennas pointing to Agila II today, the expansion of facilities validates MPSC’s strategic efforts to utilize Agila II’s spot beam over Hawaii in order to provide customers with international reach to markets outside Asia.

A teleport can turn around a signal to another satellite with coverage over North America. And since teleport operators are connected to the fiber networks from Hawaii to the US Mainland, they can now access any market in North America and Europe.

At the PTC 2002 conference, Regalado said: "With the increased investment in satellite dishes, combined with Agila’s coverage over Asia and Hawaii, lower priced fiber between Hawaii and the US mainland, and Agila II’s inclusion in the Federal Communication Commission’s (FCC) Permitted Space Station List in 2000, Agila II’s value proposition for the teleports in Kapolei has increased. Now and in the future, US and Asian customers can have seamless transpacific connectivity through Hawaii."

Mabuhay Philippines Satellite Corp. is the first and only satellite operator in the Philippines and is a subsidiary of the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. MPSC’s key resource is the Agila II Satellite (launched in August 1997 on a Long March 3B Rocket built by China Great Wall Corp.).

Agila II, which is complemented by strategic relationships with teleports in Asia (Singapore, Hong Kong, and the Philippines) and Hawaii, has standard and extended C-band coverage in Asia (including China and India) and Hawaii. It also has a hot Ku-band coverage throughout the Philippines, China and Taiwan.

Agila II is on the US Permitted Space Station List and is used by major international communications entities to fulfill their Asian, North American, and transpacific broadcasting, Internet, and traditional and new generation telecommunications communications strategies.