Since September there were news of LeoSat having difficulties in raising funding for their next-stage. And today in a shocking news LeoSat, a would-be, satellite operator has abandoned its plans to launch its constellation. CEO Ronald van der Breggen announced his resignation leaving founder mark Rigolle in charge.
The news emerged that LeoSat has let-go of their remaining employee and stopped their operations as reported by Space Intel Report. LeoSat’s existing shareholders SkyPerfect JSat and Hispasat also ended their financial support for LeoSat.
Space Intel Report quotes Rigolle, a former CFO at SES, saying that while the venture had successfully captured pre-commitment orders of some $2 billion, it had struggled to secure the funding needed to take the business to the next level. He is quoted as saying that LeoSat’s concept would be mothballed.
LeoSat’s demise would also be a bad news for Thales Alenia Space (TAS) as they hold the ITU filing priority for the Ka-Band frequencies that would have been used by LeoSat. The frequencies were allocated to TAS through French National Frequencies Agency (ANFR) and the access to those frequencies will expire in January 2021.
