NewSat

NewSat
Company typePublic company
IndustrySatellite communication
FounderAdrian Ballintine
Defunct2015
FateAdministration
Headquarters
Australia
Key people
Adrian Ballintine (CEO)
RevenueIncrease US$39.3 million (2013)[1]
Increase US$10.449 million (2013)[1]
Total assetsIncrease US$124.655 million (2013)[1]
Total equityIncrease US$206.430 million (2013)[1]

NewSat was an independent satellite communications provider in Australia.[2] Its satellites, VSATs and teleports provided coverage of 75% of the Earth’s surface. NewSat was founded on 28 March 1987, then named as Yalfaga.[3] Its name was later changed to Browns Creek Gold[4] and then Australian Environmental Resources. In 1999, the company was purchased by NewSat's CEO, Adrian Ballintine, and renamed MultiEmedia.com (later just MultiEmedia).[5] With the help of Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen owning 3% and Steve Vizard on the board,[6] it became a profitable web development company, developing the websites for Thrifty Car Rental, Hamilton Island and Nissan Australia.[7] It also sold its own in-house products, such as ZoneStudio, a web development tool, and IntraZone, an early SharePoint-like intranet application.[8]

It survived the dotcom crash, and with the purchase of New Skies Networks and its teleport facilities in Adelaide and Perth in 2005,[9] it evolved into a fully-fledged satellite communications company, changing its name to NewSat on 1 September 2006.[10] Most of NewSat's customers were located in Australia, the Middle East and Africa. With the withdrawal of combat troops in Afghanistan and with the Australian mining boom winding down, the services for NewSat's teleport business started to wane. Having made a $39.7 million loss in the second half of 2014, and with $300 million in outstanding loan repayments, NewSat was placed in administration in mid-April 2015.[11] Over the next few months, as funding difficulties ensued, its contracts with Lockheed Martin and Arianespace were terminated,[12] and its main asset was sold to SpeedCast Australia Pty Limited.[13]

  1. ^ a b c d "ANNUAL REPORT 2013" (PDF). NewSat. 30 September 2013. pp. 3, 18, 19. Retrieved 25 June 2014.
  2. ^ "NewSat, Satellite Broadband Company"
  3. ^ "Australia Business Listing". AUS61 Business. Retrieved 24 January 2017.
  4. ^ "BROWNS CREEK GOLD NL BWC – Profile and Status | deListed Australia". www.delisted.com.au. Retrieved 24 January 2017.
  5. ^ "MultiEmedia goes multinational". ARN. Retrieved 28 January 2017.
  6. ^ "How Vizard pocketed $1.1m gazumping Telstra". Crikey. 7 July 2005. Retrieved 24 January 2017.
  7. ^ "MultiEmedia goes multinational". ARN. Retrieved 24 January 2017.
  8. ^ "High on E . . . from top of the town to top of the world". ARN. Retrieved 24 January 2017.
  9. ^ "New Skies Satellites completes sale of Australian subsidiary to Multiemedia Limited". www.sec.gov. Retrieved 13 February 2017.
  10. ^ "NewSat Emerges on Shareholders' Vote – Media Releases – IDG Communications – Australia". www.idg.com.au. Retrieved 13 February 2017.
  11. ^ "Satellite leader placed in administration". www.smh.com.au. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015.
  12. ^ "NewSat's Lockheed Martin satellite contract cancelled". iTnews. Retrieved 24 January 2017.
  13. ^ "SpeedCast buys NewSat teleport sites for $12m". iTnews. Retrieved 24 January 2017.