“………..the fear you now feel about your new wealth being lost is driving the sell merchants to distract you from the real game”
Not at all “BigRig1” (Greg), in fact they simply buoy my enthusiasm about this stock. My fear if any is that they coerce other holders to sell prematurely. To me, that would be akin to extortion!
From the trading halt letter - “……..the completion of the Company’s first material agreement with a SouthAmerican customer, at the Satellite 2017 Conference in Washington D.C”
So what’s this deal about and who is it likely to be with? I have done some digging around with the results as follows. As a prelim’…………..
“………….GSMA predicted about 10 million new consumers would join the mobile user base in Latin America each year through 2017, when mobile users would total 374.3 million, or 58.7% of the region’s population.”
América Móvil is the largest player in the region, operating in 17 countries.
Movistar is the major Spanish mobile phone operator owned by Telefónica S.A. operating in Spain and in many Latin American countries.
Digicel is a mobile phone network provider operating in 33 markets across the Caribbean, Central America, and Oceania regions. The company is owned by the Irish billionaire Denis O'Brien, is incorporated in Bermuda, and based in Jamaica. It has about 13 million wireless users.
Added to these ‘local’ companies, are large OS companies like AT&T (USA), Telefonica, Telecom Italia, China Mobile & Virgin.
“Latin America is destined to emerge as one of the most important regions in the global market for mobile telephony, according to the latest studies published in the sector. The GSMA, the international association of mobile service providers, estimates that during 2014, smartphones represented 32% of all phone connections in Latin America. By 2020, such devices are expected to comprise 68% of all phone connections in the region. In absolute numbers, this will mean that there will be more than 605 million smartphones in the region by the year 2020 — a figure that will be exceeded only by the Asia Pacific region.
The Latin American telecom sector has been undergoing a transformation that has made it one of the most-watched markets in the industry today.” http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/why-latin-america-is-the-next-big-mobile-battleground/
The above companies are basically mobile phone access providers. They are not satellite based companies with connectivity options in a multitude of other areas. In my opinion, none of the before mentioned companies were likely to have attended Satellite2017 in Washington as it was not a telecom specific show.
We know this South American deal was struck at the show and so I conclude that the company concerned is most likely to be a satellite based ‘communications’ company. The map below shows that South America was represented at the show by at least one satellite based company.
To me, ‘first material agreement’ means an agreement with a paying customer with access to the 200+ nanosat constellation.
Assuming this new customer is a satellite based company, I set out to find who they might be and what products / services they currently provide that could be significantly enhanced via our 200+ constellation.
I found two that caught my eye – there may be more, but these two were a stand out.
The first one is WAFA – “Wafa is one of the leading satellite broadband internet provider with its services all across the Middle East, Africa, South Americas & Europe and with more than 10 years of experience in the satellite broadband business. In addition to supplying the complete hardware, we maintain a large database of clients spread across the satellite footprint globe.
Always keeping a client's needs in mind we have an entire range of customized packages catering for every segment of the market ( e.g. Military , NGOs, Corporates, SOHO, Cafes, etc.). We have also designed a number of customer friendly alternatives to deal with the inevitable problems that arise from the provision of satellite internet. With users located in remote locations, reliability is the key, and users would have the full benefit from our service.” - http://www.wafa.ae/en/vsat/Aboutus.aspx
They appear to cover the same global geographical area as SAS. It also looks like they are more into supplying product / hardware solutions for customers more so than straight satellite access.
Yes, they are ‘broadband’ and we are not, but to me a more affordable voice / data solution would be a great add-on to their existing service global reach. BTW, I still reckon SAS will come up with a broadband solution at a later date – but let’s leave that one alone for now!
The other one I found was GlobalSat
"Globalsat Group is the first multi-entity Pan-American mobile satellite service (MSS) provider and an industry leader delivering standard voice and data, M2M / IoT, software and hardware in the region since 1999. With offices in the United States, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Peru, Argentina and Mexico as well as distributors in the region’s most important cities, the company is in charge of provide satellite telecommunications solutions for thousands of customers through a flexible organizational structure, powered by extensive and specific expertise in multiple vertical sectors such as energy, government, defense, media, mining, banking, agriculture, NGOs and tourism. Most clients use these services in mission critical applications where infrastructure or lives are at stake, under extreme conditions or exceptional circumstances, when or where other means of communications cannot operate."
Global sat are resellers of Iridium and Inmarsat. They also service their respective hardware. Anyone who is currently in this business would appreciate the disruptive technology that SAS has. They would also see the writing on the wall in regard to future income generation where these two behemoth satellite connectives become obsolete on a cost to end user basis.
Frost & Sullivan – ring any bells? It should. In Nov last year, SAS won the Frost & Sullivan “2016 Technology Innovation Award for Global Narrow-Band Nano Satellite Connectivity Services.” With this F&S connection GlobalSat would have been aware of the SAS technology even before Satellite2017 in DC.
“In November 2016 LeoSat and Globalsat Group sign a strategic worldwide agreement. LeoSat Enterprises is planning to launch a constellation of as many as 108 LEO communications satellites. Under the agreement Globalsat Group will provide market access and LeoSat will provide infrastructure for service. J. Alberto Palacios, CEO of Globalsat, will hold a seat in representation of the group on the LeoSat Customer Technical Advisory Committee (CTAC). The committee will advise on system configuration, product design and launch of LeoSat’s upcoming satellite constellation.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Globalsat_Group
Is it possible that Globalsat might sidestep LeoSat in preference for getting into the SAS 200+ constellation and fast track into the untapped market that SAS is perusing? Who knows?
Whether this “material agreement” is done with any of the before mentioned or not, it is bound to be one that sets us off into the money making side of the nano-sat business, giving the likes of Iridium and Inmarsat a real run for their money.
I am really looking forward to finding out what this is all about.
SAS Price at posting:
19.0¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
