The company has estimated a budget of $350 million and began financing to start the project earlier this year. It has since claimed the satellite will cost between 15-20% below market expectations to build, launch and insure the infrastructure.
It will be built by the Orbital Science Corporation and deliver 28Gbps capacity across its existing markets.
Avanti said it hopes that the satellite will generate new growth in its existing markets, and there is a potential for the new satellite to cover Latin America.
The company issued $150 million worth of bonds in the US in April to fund the build out, and Avanti has said that because of its latest projections, it has been left in a strong financial position.
“Now that we are successfully selling services to the biggest telecommunications and media companies in our region, we have improving visibility over how we will continue to activate the underlying market demand on a large scale,” said David Williams, CEO at Avanti. “This satellite is designed based on the requirements those customers have given us.”
Capacity on its two existing cables will be sold out by 2016, according to the company, and it has taken steps to plan the satellites ahead of time.
