El Kadi
Over half of the satellite imaging project for Saudi Arabia's upcoming fixed line and GSM project has been completed, and that for the Holy Cities of Makkah and Madinah, as well as Jubail and Yanbu will be done by the end of the first quarter of 2002, confirmed a senior industry source.

Imaging has already been done for eight cities, including Riyadh, Jeddah and Yanbu, said Mohammed El Kadi, Middle East managing director of Space Imaging.

The contract was awarded early last year by King Abdul Aziz City of Science and Technology, which has been mandated by the Saudi Government to handle all sourcing requirements for imaging in the kingdom.

Saudi Arabia plans to add an estimated two million fixed phone lines as part of the expansion of its telecom infrastructure.

"We have started work on phase two of the satellite imaging for the project, and will complete the entire process in the first quarter of 2002. The overall value of the deal for us works out to $2 million," added El Kadi.

The company is participating at this year's air show, Dubai 2001.

Meanwhile, Etisalat is expected to shortly come out with a contract for satellite-based imagery to provide for a base map and for classification of the height of buildings, said El Kadi. These details are to aid the UAE telecom company in its infrastructure expansion.

"We look forward to working with Etisalat in meeting its various requirements when the project is announced.

"We have already done a major project for one of the largest oil companies in the UAE to provide images from the Saudi-UAE border into the city of Abu Dhabi. Oman Telecommunications is another client."

Since the launch of its own Ikonos satellite in September 1999, Space Imaging offers images of one metre resolution.

"The satellite imagery market in the Middle East has quadrupled since the last couple of years, and for next year we are forecasting a further doubling. Our current return on investment is 50 per cent, and next year should see it touching 90 per cent.

"Now our client mix is changing to 50 per cent Middle East based compared to 80 per cent from Europe and the U.S. earlier."

The company is currently working on satellites which can offer 0.5 metre resolution. Likely launch is either by late 2003 or first quarter of 2004.

The regional subsidiary is 40 per cent owned by Space Imaging, the parent company based in the U.S., and the rest of the equity is shared by local investors.

"Our business operates under two restrictions - the first relates to the United Nations sanctions against Iraq, Libya, North Korea, etc., and the second is that put by the U.S. Senate which prohibits us from selling any images of Israel which are less than 2 metre resolution," said El Kadi.

The parent company, Space Imaging, is owned by Lockheed Martin and Raytheon, among others.