A Yahsat owned SPV has bought Etisalat's 20.04 per cent stake in Thuraya. Image Al Yah 3 - Courtesy Yahsat
A Yahsat owned SPV has bought Etisalat's 20.04 per cent stake in Thuraya. Image Al Yah 3 - Courtesy Yahsat

Technology

Yahsat agrees to buy majority stake in Thuraya

Thuraya to add two satellites to Yahsat's orbital portfolio

Mahmoud Kassem

April 27, 2018

Yahsat, a UAE-based satellite operator, agreed to acquire a majority stake in the mobile satellite services operator Thuraya.

Financial terms were not disclosed and the deal is subject to final pre-closing conditions to be met.

“The acquisition of the UAE’s first home-grown satellite operator, Thuraya, will significantly expand Yahsat’s current satellite solutions portfolio for both commercial and government verticals, as well as its global footprint,” the company said in a statement.

“The acquisition will set Yahsat on a new phase of growth, with Thuraya bringing 20 years of innovation and experience in the mobile satellite services market along with a rich portfolio of products and services complimented by a renowned brand.”

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Thuraya’s two satellites will expand Yahsat’s constellation to five. The two satellites that Thuraya own serve 140 countries.

In all, after the acquisition, Yahsat will have a combination of geostationary satellites  which will cover Europe, Africa, the Middle East, South America and Asia, providing a broad range of fixed and mobile satellite services encompassing voice and data communications for both governments and commercial entities.

In January, Yahsat launched its third satellite Al Yah 3 into space.

Al Yah 3 will join Al Yah 1 and Al Yah 2 in helping to empower millions of people across the Middle East, Africa, South West Asia and Brazil to access affordable internet access via Yahsat’s high-speed satellite broadband service, YahClick. The service is designed to provide satellite broadband internet to everyone, opening up new opportunities for every aspect of society from governments and enterprises to end users at home.

It will expand Yahsat’s commercial Ka-band coverage to an additional 19 new markets in Africa, reaching 60 per cent of the population. Furthermore, Al Yah 3 will serve Brazil, covering over 95 per cent of its population.

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Cast: Loujain Adada, Zeina Khoury, Farhana Bodi, Ebraheem Al Samadi, Mona Kattan, and couples Safa & Fahad Siddiqui and DJ Bliss & Danya Mohammed 

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Dubai works towards better air quality by 2021

Dubai is on a mission to record good air quality for 90 per cent of the year – up from 86 per cent annually today – by 2021.

The municipality plans to have seven mobile air-monitoring stations by 2020 to capture more accurate data in hourly and daily trends of pollution.

These will be on the Palm Jumeirah, Al Qusais, Muhaisnah, Rashidiyah, Al Wasl, Al Quoz and Dubai Investment Park.

“It will allow real-time responding for emergency cases,” said Khaldoon Al Daraji, first environment safety officer at the municipality.

“We’re in a good position except for the cases that are out of our hands, such as sandstorms.

“Sandstorms are our main concern because the UAE is just a receiver.

“The hotspots are Iran, Saudi Arabia and southern Iraq, but we’re working hard with the region to reduce the cycle of sandstorm generation.”

Mr Al Daraji said monitoring as it stood covered 47 per cent of Dubai.

There are 12 fixed stations in the emirate, but Dubai also receives information from monitors belonging to other entities.

“There are 25 stations in total,” Mr Al Daraji said.

“We added new technology and equipment used for the first time for the detection of heavy metals.

“A hundred parameters can be detected but we want to expand it to make sure that the data captured can allow a baseline study in some areas to ensure they are well positioned.”

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