In a proposal presently before regulatory authorities, Singapore based Yenura Pte. Ltd will pay US$28 million for most of the assets of Worldspace and its US subsidiaries WorldSpace Systems Corp. and AfriSpace Inc.

Worldspace’s broadcasts are heard across Africa and Asia and the company’s AsiaStar satellite can be received in Australia and many South Pacific islands using a 2.3m dish antenna.

Although it has 171,000 paying customers, the company has been operating with debtor-in -possession financing from its creditors since October. Prior to October last year, the company was poised to launch its services across Europe.

The company was founded in 1999 with a mission to provide digital satellite radio and data services to the developing nations of Africa and Asia.

According to the company website, 1worldspace is the first and only company with rights to the world’s globally allocated spectrum for digital satellite radio. Its broadcast footprint covers over 130 countries including India and China, all of Africa and the Middle East and most of Western Europe – an area that includes five billion people and more than 300 million vehicles.

Its two fully operational satellites and ground infrastructure are based on proprietary and patented technology.

Apart from providing entertainment, the “always on” nature of the satellite transmission is utalised by meteorological bureaus around the world as a method of distributing weather warnings.

The EMWIN (Emergency Managers Weather Information Network) utilizes the Worldspace satellite network to provide weather warnings in the Asia Pacific via RANET, a network of data collection sites linked by HF radio. Data is analysed and compiled in Melbourne, then sent to Singapore by undersea cable where it is uplinked to AsiaStar from the earth station at Sentosa, providing weather information via Worldspace.