KISKADEE Communications (Bermuda) Ltd. has been involved in nearly four years of behind-closed-doors talks with Government aimed at securing a lucrative communications satellite licence, thecan reveal.

The company, formed by a group of local and foreign business people, aims to launch a satellite costing up to $275 million to fill one of three satellite slots assigned to Bermuda in 1983 by the United Nations and the International Telecommunications Union (ITU).

Kiskadee Communications was formed in 2001 and incorporated as an exempt company in February 2003. Though this newspaper was unable to find out who is involved with the company, Fort Knox chief executive officer Troy Symonds is named as an administrative contact.

Mr. Symonds did not answer our call to his office yesterday. And Telecommunications & E-Commerce Minister Michael Scott declined to reveal who was behind the company.

"The Government can confirm that discussions have taken place with Kiskadee," Mr. Scott said in an e-mail response to our questions yesterday."The discussions are on-going, therefore nothing has been finalised."

The Government had not advertised for applications, but other companies had made inquiries, he added.

"We are not in a position to disclose the principals behind Kiskadee," Mr. Scott said.

Documents openly available over the internet reveal that Kiskadee entered talks with with the Government over an orbital slot directly over the centre of the US in July 2001.

The US is the biggest user of communications satellite capacity in the world with great demand for television and video services, as well as Internet and data transmission facilities.

Documents available through the Ofcom web site show that Kiskadee, in correspondence with Ofcom, stated: "... our company seeks to license but one geo satellite at this time, costing less than $275 million (if built new) to deliver proven, very profitable applications in a geographic region where bandwidth capacity is in short supply, and where customer demand is the very highest in satcom."

Kiskadee, through its legal representatives Appleby Spurling & Hunter, also requested that Ofcom respected the integrity of ITU allotments that gave Bermuda access to the satellite market.

"As we understand it, Bermuda's top social and economic development priority is to develop new, sustainable, 21st-century economic opportunities for its people," Kiskadee argued.

"Bermuda's pre-existing orbital slots are 'lynchpin' economic development rights to move Bermuda into global telemedia, not merely a technical telecommunications right to launch a satellite.

"It is our view that if Bermuda cannot act independently as a nation, then Ofcom, in coordination with the FCO (Foreign & Commonwealth Office), must assume the joint leadership of protecting the dependent OTs (Overseas Territories), as well as their citizens' and their local companies' rights to participate in the international satellite community."

The document continues: "Ofcom must respect Bermuda as having the first, superior, pre-negotiated priority to extend the radio footprint naturally and in a contiguous manner within Bermuda's regional marketplace.

"Only by serving the neighbouring United States can Bermuda ever make a Bermudian satellite launch (or placement into its slot) economically viable."

The company's registered office is listed by the Registrar of Companies as Chevron House, 11 Church Street. But a search of the building by a reporter found neither the office, nor anyone who had heard of Kiskadee Communications.

Kiskadee.bm is listed by the Bermuda Network Information Centre (BNIC) as the company's web address, though the site appears to have not yet been constructed.

The BNIC listing names Mr. Symonds, the chief executive officer of communications and business networking company Fort Knox Bermuda Ltd., as the company's administrative contact.

The Fort Knox web site describes global satellite giant Intelsat as its "partner" in offering a product called VSAT to the island. Whether Intelsat ? which has its head office in Bermuda though most of its operations run out of Washington, D.C. ? is in any way connected with Kiskadee is unknown, but the company does have great experience in the communications satellite business as well as the necessary financial muscle to put satellites into space.

Intelsat's web site boasts that its fleet of 27 satellites provides connectivity virtually anywhere on earth for a variety of communications needs.

It adds: "Our satellites occupy prime orbital locations that we consider 'beachfront property in the sky'."

Intelsat, founded in 1964 by a number of American states, was a US intergovernmental organisation until July 2001, when it became a private company. In the same month talks between Kiskadee and the then Telecommunications and E-Commerce Minister Ren?e Webb began.

Bermuda's satellite slot is reportedly worth around $850 million a year, but high maintenance costs mean projected annual profits have been estimated at typically around $5 million.

The island's efforts to gain a satellite slot were threatened when the Isle of Man filed with the ITU for its own slot, 0.3 degrees away from Bermuda's. This would reportedly have been close enough to cause interference.

Ofcom, the UK's independent technical authority, which puts forward communications satellite applications from Britain and its Overseas Territories to the ITU, is, according to Minister Scott, backing Bermuda's case.

The Isle of Man filed for its unplanned slot in June 2002, but the Bermuda Government only found out about it in late 2003.

Last week in the House of Assembly, Minister Scott announced that Bermuda planned to hold talks with the Isle of Man over the satellite issue.

"Due to the fact Bermuda's plans to modify its slot and that the resulting footprint could not co-exist with the proposed Isle of Man filing, the Ministry will next enter into formal coordination discussions with the Isle of Man," Mr. Scott told MPs.

"These talks will be held under the auspices of Ofcom, which has the responsibility of representing all UK Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies to the ITU."

He said the satellite slot had the potential to be a real money spinner through licensing it to a satellite operator.

"With the first milestone of filing being achieved, the Ministry is now focusing on the development of the necessary legislation in order to create and support the regulatory regime required to meet both the international treaty and the UK legislative obligations," Mr. Scott added.