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On the Record
ENRICO SAGGESE, CEO, TELESPAZIO
Italy's Telespazio comes to Farnborough with the ink still wet on the MoU agreement that should see it merged into a new French-Italian space business team. Telespazio is present at the show under the Finmeccanica banner, at least for the moment, but a tie-up with complementary elements of France's Alcatel is now on the cards after the MoU was signed on July 16. Finmeccanica and Alcatel propose to establish the new Alcatel Alenia Space, owned 67% by Alcatel and 33% by Finmeccanica. The new company will, in turn, have a services company that will combine Telespazio with Alcatel Space's own service operations.
As Enrico Saggese explains it, "Finmeccanica and Alcatel have signed an MoU to bring about a merger of their activities in the space sector. This will result in two companies. One, under French control, will manage manufacturing and project-production activities, the development and production of satellites, instrumentation, payloads and ground control systems. The second company, under Italian control, will deal with the services and other activities dedicated to satellites. Today the Alcatel Group and Telespazio do different things along similar lines. Our goal is to integrate those services into a stronger whole."
Saggese does not believe that the merger will do away Telespazio's good name and track record. "Having started operating in the satellite communications field in 1961, Telespazio can count on more than 40 years of experience and know-how. Our brand name is internationally known and respected. I don't think we can be expected to forgo this.
"The agreement between Finmeccanica and Alcatel lays the foundations for what will be the No. 1 European space operator, and one of the most important in the world, when it comes to satellites and services. It meets a clear need to integrate our manufacturing and service activities. From then on our key objectives will be to secure a leading role in the space services industry and to build up a portfolio of products particularly in the realm of broadband comms, navigation and earth surveying."
For Farnborough, Saggese says Telespazio is displaying its expertise in homeland security tasks-and in particular its ability to provide out-sourced support to defense forces and military operations. One good example of this he points to is the Italian military satellite communications program (SICRAL) under which Telespazio provides video-conferencing link-ups for Italian forces deployed overseas.
—Robert Hewson
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