TEL AVIV -- Nepal's Dish Media Network has expanded the amount of satellite capacity it is leasing from Israel's Spacecom. The deal covers capacity aboard Spacecom's Amos-4 satellite. Spacecom announced the deal on January 2, 2017. The deal is worth $16.7 million and brings the total future revenue Spacecom will receive from Dish Media Network up to $76.9 million.
Spacecom has suffered from a series of recent setbacks. The company lost contact with Amos-5 in November 2015, and permanently wrote off the satellite a month later. More significantly, Spacecom lost Amos-6, a high throughput satellite that would have provided Internet access to Africa, during a preflight check of its Falcon 9 launch vehicle in September 2016.
Still, Spacecom has access to valuable in-orbit assets, as evidenced by the capacity contract signed with Dish Media Network. While Spacecom is unlikely to remain an independent company, its orbital assets, if priced correctly, will be attractive to potential buyers. Any buyer will continue to invest in new satellites to deliver services from those orbital locations. With operations expected to continue, the company will need to replace satellites already in orbit, which will drive deliveries over the forecast period.