Viasat, Inc. (NASDAQ: VSAT) has received an AUD252 million award from Geoscience Australia (GA) and Toitū Te Whenua Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) to deliver additional satellite services for the region’s world-class Southern Positioning Augmentation Network (SouthPAN).
This expands on a previous SouthPAN award for the company and the estimated net incremental value for Viasat from this agreement is AUD214 million.
SouthPAN is a collaborative satellite-based augmentation system developed jointly by Australia and New Zealand. It provides precise positioning and navigation services to support a number of sectors, including aviation, maritime, agriculture, surveying and emergency response.
SouthPAN serves growing end market use cases, including in agriculture to increase productivity through applications like precision spraying, yield mapping, controlled traffic farming, inter-row seeding and livestock management. It is also capable of improving personnel safety on mine and construction sites through smart geo-fencing technologies to accurately identify the location of workers operating vehicles and heavy machinery.
This marks the second such award for the company, after Inmarsat—which has since combined with Viasat—was awarded a contract in May 2023 to deliver a satellite payload for SouthPAN. The new agreement, which amends the previous award and comes under Viasat’s Communication Services segment, covers the continuation of services from Viasat’s existing in-orbit satellites as well as a new payload, marking a significant extension of Viasat’s partnership with both Governments.
SouthPAN is delivered by Geoscience Australia in partnership with Toitū Te Whenua Land Information New Zealand, with early services available to both countries since 2022.
This agreement secures a reliable satellite service and ground infrastructure, delivering precise positioning across Australia and its maritime zones – enabling industries to innovate where accuracy is critical,” said Geoscience Australia’s Chief Executive Officer, Melissa Harris. “From farms to freight, users will be able to access free services that are accurate and timely.”
Todd McDonell, President, Viasat International Government, said, “Viasat is thrilled to expand its support for SouthPAN and enable improved positioning and navigation services across Australia and New Zealand. SouthPAN represents extraordinary potential for the region: It can save lives by enabling precision safety tracking, help farmers improve productivity through automated device tracking, and even support transport management systems of the future. We have a long history providing advanced PNT and safety services across the world, so we are of course excited to be expanding this work and collaboration with GA and LINZ.”
