Spire cooperation agreement ‘transformational catalyst,’ says Alliance Global

Alliance Global Partners views Spire Global’s cooperation agreement with Thales and European Satellite Services Provider to develop a global satellite air traffic management system for the aviation market as a “transformational catalyst.” Although no contract has yet been awarded to Spire, the first phase contract could be awarded shortly, says the firm, which estimates Iridium charged Aireon about $500M to get the constellation up and running and for hosting services. Aireon paid another $115M to Harris Corp. to build the payloads, AGP points out. The analyst believes these combined payments are indicators of the revenue potential for Spire. The firm expects a “material impact” to its revenue, EBITDA and price target estimates once there are contracts in place to build and launch the system.