Alcatel and Finmeccanica have signed a memorandum of understanding to merge their space activities and form alliances in the space sector through the creation of two sister companies, to which both partners will contribute their respective satellite industrial and service activities.
The first company, Alcatel Alenia Space, of which Alcatel will hold approximately 67 per cent and Finmeccanica approximately 33 per cent, will combine Alcatel Space and Alenia Spazio’s industrial activities. It will concentrate on the design, development and manufacturing of space systems, satellites, equipment, instruments, payloads and associated ground systems. The management team of Alcatel Alenia Space will be located in France. The company, with estimated 2004 sales of €1.8 B and around 7200 employees, will operate through five business divisions — Telecommunications, Optical Observation and Science, Observation Systems and Radar, Navigation and Infrastructure and Transportation.
The second company, of which Finmeccanica will hold approximately 67 per cent and Alcatel approximately 33 per cent, will combine Telespazio with Alcatel Space’s operations and services activities. It will concentrate on operations and services for satellite solutions, which includes control and exploitation of space systems as well as value-added services for networking, multimedia and earth observation. Its management team will be located in Italy. Estimated sales for 2004 are €350 M, with a workforce of around 1400.