February 3 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria Sat said it expects to end this year with no operating loss for the first time since it was established in 2011, as 15% of the capacity of the company's first geostationary satellite, BulgariaSat-1, has already been booked by clients.
"A 15% capacity is already enough for us not to be operating at a loss," Maxim Zayakov, CEO of Bulgaria Sat, said during a press event.
In 2018, Bulgaria Sat's operating loss widened to 55.5 million levs ($31.4 million/28.4 million euro), from 2.2 million levs in 2017, as revenue dropped 89.3% to 595,000 levs, according to the company's most recent annual consolidated financial report published by Bulgaria's commercial register.
While BulgariaSat-1 is an asset worth hundreds of millions of levs, the operating expenses for running it are pretty low, about 2 million levs per year, which is another reason why the company is optimistic about its financial results in 2020, the CEO of Bulgaria's only satellite operator explained.
Bulgaria Sat plans to have up to 65% of the capacity of its satellite booked in the next two years and up to 85% in the next five years, Zayakov added.
The BulgariaSat-1 satellite reached the Bulgarian orbital position on July 3, 2017. On June 23, 2017 the satellite was launched from Cape Canaveral aboard a Falcon 9 rocket provided by US-based SpaceX. The funding for the project with an estimated cost of $235 million has been provided predominantly by the Export-Import Bank of the US.
The intended lifespan of the BulgariaSat-1 satellite had been originally set at 15 years but SpaceX managed to extend it to nearly 21 years due to its efforts at the time of the launch, Zayakov noted during the event.
The extension of the satellite's lifespan by about five years gives more opportunities for development and, most importantly, for higher profit.
"The math is simple - five years with 20 million levs in profit per year will result in an extra 100 million levs," Zayakov said.
Furthermore, an extended lifespan means that the satellite will keep its orbital position for a longer period of time, the CEO noted, adding that the company has already secured the satellite's 1.9° East orbital position.
"Serbia is currently our biggest client but that does not mean that we have forgotten the Bulgarian market, we are working actively there," Zayakov said.
The satellite operator also has several clients in Germany and Iraq. The company is currently in talks with potential clients in Greece and Romania, while a Belgium-based client is also expressing interest in Bulgaria Sat's services.
Bulgarian paid-TV services provider Bulsatcom was intended to be the biggest client using the services of BulgariaSat-1 but the company gave up on its decision to buy the satellite in 2017. BulgariaSat-1 provides high-quality Direct-to-Home television and communications services to the Balkans, other regions of Europe and North Africa. The satellite could also be used in case of natural disasters such as earthquakes, storms and floods when land-based networks are not operational.
Bulgaria Sat is 100%-owned by Bulgaria Sat Holding, an affiliate of Bulsatcom.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)