On 17 March, the Republic of Serbia officially joined the EU Satcom Market. The EDA initiative is designed to provide flexible commercial satellite communication solutions for its contributing members.
Commercial satellite communications are used by all nations to provide extra capacity on top of their own military and governmental satellite communications. The EU Satcom Market provides a flexible and cost-effective way of doing this.
Jorge Domecq, the EDA Chief Executive, welcomed Serbia's decision to join the EU Satcom Market project highlighting the benefits of the project as regards the provision of commercial satellite communication solutions. He added that this was a concrete step of the Republic of Serbia to enhance cooperation with EDA partners in the framework of the Administrative Arrangement between the Agency and the Serbian Ministry of Defence.
The Republic of Serbia signed an Administrative Arrangement with the Agency in 2013 enabling it to participate in EDA projects and programmes. The EU Satcom Market is the first EDA project which the Republic of Serbia has decided to join.
Background
Within the EU Satcom Market project, EDA acts as the central purchasing body on behalf of the contributing members. It purchases the services from a commercial provider. The project uses a ‘pay-per-use’ model, so members do not have to contribute with regular fees, instead they only pay for what they order.
Since May 2013, 32 orders have been passed for a total value of around €5.2 million. Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Finland, Germany, Greece, Italy, Luxemburg, Portugal, the Republic of Serbia, Romania, the United Kingdom, the Athena Mechanism, EUCAP Sahel Niger and EUCAP SAHEL Mali are now members of the project. Further participation is open to all EDA participating Member States as well as all entities entitled to take part in Agency activities.
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