Mohammed Al Barwani Satellite Company has signed a strategic agreement with ST Engineering iDirect to develop sovereign satellite communications services in Oman and the wider region, with services planned to launch in 2027, the Oman News Agency reported on Saturday.
The network will use the capacity of MBSAT-1, a small geostationary communications satellite built by US company Astranis. The company plans to sell connectivity to government entities, telecommunications operators, businesses and critical infrastructure operators.
Under the agreement, ST Engineering iDirect will supply the ground infrastructure, including Ka-band gateway stations, its cloud-based Intuition platform for core signal processing and its Foresight system for network management. The package also covers service delivery tools, open software interfaces, and training and technical support over the life of the system.
Financial terms were not disclosed.
Ammar bin Salem Al-Rawahi, general manager of Mohammed Al Barwani Satellite Company, said the agreement was a significant milestone in building a satellite communications platform for Oman and the region. He said the Intuition system would let the company allocate and redistribute satellite capacity according to demand and introduce new services, Times of Oman reported.
Brian Jakens, senior vice president of global sales at ST Engineering iDirect, said the company was building a sovereign communications platform designed to support future growth and digital transformation in the region.
The satellite company is part of Oman’s MB Group, which partnered with Astranis on the satellite. ST Engineering iDirect is a unit of Singapore’s ST Engineering.
