The London-based regional communications satellite operator, Avanti Communications Group, which operates a small fleet of satellites providing broadband services over the “Mediterranean region” of Europe, North Africa and the Middle East, has announced that its CEO, David Williams, is leaving the firm, He is being replaced by a temporary CEO, Alan Harper, currently a non-executive member of the board.
The company, which was founded in 1996 and currently operates three spacecraft, HYLAS 1, HYLAS 2 and the old ESA ARTEMIS spacecraft, as well as a Ka-band payload on ASTRA 5B (known as HYLAS 2B), has been beset by poor utilisation of its transponder capacity at under 35%. The result is that its revenues have been less than expected, while profitability remains a distant prospect.
Nevertheless, in a bid to bolster its revenues and achieve profitability, the company has plans for expansion: HYLAS 3 will be a hosted payload on ESA’s EDRS C, whereas HYLAS 4 is a complete satellite being built by Orbital ATK. Both are now expected to be launched in 2018. HYLAS 4 will be launched in March – about a year later than originally planned. Meanwhile the HYLAS 3 payload on the EDRS C spacecraft was expected to be operating by early 2018, but the spacecraft has had its launch delayed until the middle of the year at the earliest due to a technical problem with the Ka-band payload being built by MDA.
The company was put up for sale last year but then decided to raise funding itself.
Avanti’s departing CEO David Williams. Courtesy: ITU
Comment by David Todd: The exact cause of Williams’ departure has not been revealed officially, but there is industry speculation that it was part of the attempt to save the loss-making firm via refinancing.
