Pursuing both government and commercial contracts, Yahsat maintains diverse strategy

Dubai: Yahsat, the Abu Dhabi-based satellite operator, said on Tuesday it was working with a number of international manufacturers to develop new technologies for its government clients.

The company, which is owned by Abu Dhabi sovereign investment fund Mubadala, says it exhibited prototype technologies to military customers at the International Defence Exhibition (Idex) last month.

“We tried to show our customers and the market [at Idex] that what we are doing is cooperating with the major manufacturer of satellite terminals … we showed the edge of the technology in each segment,” said Sulaiman Al Ali, executive vice president at Yahsat.

These segments were land, maritime, and aerospace, Ali told Gulf News in an interview.

“We tried to show these terminals, which are still not in the offering, but under development,” he added. “Some are still in the early stages of a prototype, but coming with a new concept.”

Ali declined to state who Yahsat was working with, but said they included South Korean, US, and Australian businesses.

The company is exhibiting its newest satellite technology at Cabsat, the broadcasting exhibition, this week.

Aside from the UAE military, Ali said the company did a lot of business with oil and gas firms in the region.

This included connectivity for internet, video conferencing systems, and standard telephone lines.

These oil and gas companies preferred satellite systems, because “you are avoiding any interruptions to your communications because it is from point A to point B.”

“Nobody is coming in between. It’s more secure.”

Ali said that Yahsat was promoting its Yahlive systems, which provides television channels to over 114 million viewers, to broadcasting clients at Cabsat in Dubai.

Telco Etisalat confirmed in August 2018 that it had completed the sale of a 28.042 per cent direct stake in Thuraya Telecom to Yahsat for $37 million (Dh135.79 million).

The acquisition took Yahsat’s total number of satellites to five, serving more than 160 countries.