On August 7, 2017 Telecomunicaciones de México (“TELECOMM”) published the request… for expressions of interest (“MOI”) to participate as operator or investor to, through a self-financing public-private partnership (“PPP”), provide backup and operational continuity of the Mexican satellite Morelos 3 and potentially commercialize its excess capacity.
With this MDI request TELECOMM seeks the possibility that an operator or investor can provide in-orbit backup for Morelos 3, through a self-financing PPP, as well as solicits suggestions, lessons and solutions for the development of this project.
MDI’s request states, among other things, the following minimum support requirements that the Mexican government would expect from this PPP:
(i) A compatible standard L-band MSS system that provides backup for at least 50% of the assigned operational capacity of the Morelos 3 satellite, which is capable of operating over the full standard L-band (assuming a 7.0 MHz allocation), as well as operating in the extended L-band.
(ii) Corresponding feeder link in a part of the assigned Ku band or any other band that the Operator may incorporate.
(iii) Area of coverage: National territory, territorial waters and EEZ, plus the maritime and terrestrial area covered by the Panama Canal, including all of Central America and surrounding waters.
(iv) Maximum compatibility with existing terrestrial infrastructure, as well as with end-user terminals, allowing the maintenance of other existing end-user terminals in the field (including numbering systems), as well as existing autonomous, secure and encrypted terrestrial infrastructure.
On the other hand, it is mentioned that the Mexican government is willing to offer the following as a contribution to the PPP:
(i) Rights of use and exploitation of the backup satellite in the 116.8ºW orbital position held by the Government of Mexico with the ITU for Region II.
(ii) Use of existing ground infrastructure, such as networks, links, telemetry systems and physical ground space.
(iii) Certain existing licenses, authorizations and permits for Mexican territory in connection with the use of the Morelos 3 and backup satellite.
(iv) Highly qualified and experienced in-country team support for TT&C operations, ground and network systems.
The deadline for submission of responses to the MDI application is August 11, 2017, at 6:00 p.m., and face-to-face meetings with stakeholders will be held on August 14-18, 2017.
