“IKS Holding” goes into orbit

Kommersant has learned that ICS Holding may launch the first batch of low-orbit communication satellites as part of the Bureau 1440 project as early as this spring. The satellites will serve subscribers throughout Russia, which will have a positive impact on communication coverage of small and hard-to-reach territories, the Ministry of Digital Development expects. According to experts, the project will require at least 500 satellites, and the payback period may be up to five years. They believe that the project will be aimed primarily at providing critical infrastructure facilities with communications.

In March, Roskosmos will launch the first demonstration satellite of Bureau 1440, which is now owned by ICS Holding, into orbit, a Kommersant source in a large Russian IT company told Kommersant. Then it is planned to withdraw the first batch of low-orbit satellite constellation, adds the interlocutor of Kommersant, close to ICS Holding. Satellites should serve subscribers throughout Russia, which will have a positive impact on communication coverage of small and hard-to-reach territories, the Ministry of Digital Development explained to Kommersant, adding that the State Commission on Radio Frequencies approved the allocation of frequencies for satellite communications to the company. ICS Holding declined to comment. In “Roskosmos” “Kommersant” did not answer.

Initially, the project was called MegaFon 1440, the operator announced it in October 2020, planning to invest 6 billion rubles in the development of a satellite communication system. (see Kommersant dated October 29, 2020). At the end of 2021, VTB invested 2 billion rubles in the project, receiving 15%. But after USM closed the sale of ICS Holding to Anton Cherepennikov in June 2022, the project was transferred to ICS Holding as part of the asset division and was renamed Bureau 1440. MegaFon remained a strategic partner of the project, the head of the operator Khachatur Pombukhchan said in an interview with Kommersant (see Kommersant dated July 11, 2022). The operator’s press service confirmed plans for cooperation, refusing to disclose details.

Now the data on the composition of the owners of Bureau 1440 LLC is hidden in the SPARK-Interfax database. According to a message published in the database, in December 2022, Mercury Capital Trust became the owner of 33% of Bureau 1440 LLC (Timofey Kotenev and Dmitry Stepanov own 45.51%, Dmitry Kuznetsov owns 8.99%). In ICS Holding, they confirm that they own the asset, but the structure of the owners is not disclosed. VTB Kommersant did not respond. At the end of 2021, the company’s loss exceeded 100 million rubles.

Grouping in orbits less than 600 km allows solving the main problem of traditional satellite communications – a signal delay of 700–800 ms, says Sergey Pekhterev, shareholder of KAI Internet: “But for full-fledged work that could cover the entire Earth, at least 500 satellites are needed” . In the Russian Federation, in the segment, according to him, the Roskosmos project “Sphere” should work on satellites “Skif” (12 devices in an orbit of 8070 km). Sitronics Group (part of AFK Sistema) in the summer of 2022 developed a project for remote sensing of the Earth, navigation and fire monitoring. The launch of 157 small and ultra-small satellites by 2025 was estimated at 20 billion rubles. (see Kommersant dated June 8, 2022).

The traditional consumers of satellite communications are transport companies and those who have to work for a long time outside the access area of ​​conventional fixed or mobile communications (geologists, environmentalists, builders of remote facilities), says Alexander Sivolobov, Deputy Head of the NTI Competence Center based on Skoltech for wireless communication technologies: “ But the audience is rapidly expanding, not least due to the popularity of Starlink.” This is a global satellite system from SpaceX, providing subscribers with high-speed broadband Internet. In December 2022, for example, Ukraine agreed to supply more than 10,000 Starlink terminals.

Mr. Sivolobov notes that the payback period for Starlink with an increase in the subscriber base to 5–10 million was estimated at three to four years. “Bureau 1440”, in his opinion, may be focused on providing communications primarily to critical infrastructure (banks, telecom operators, fuel and energy complex), that is, “the issue of payback may not be at the forefront.”

Nikita Korolev, Vadim Krasnikov, Yulia Silence