Av-Comm Space & Defence

Av-Comm Space & Defence is an Australian satellite communications company. It designs, makes and installs radio frequency ground station terminals for space and defence customers around the world. It calls itself the longest-standing privately owned satellite communications company in the Southern Hemisphere.

The company was founded in 1981. It is a second-generation, family-operated business that has grown from a team of 3 to over 30 professionals. It reports more than 43 years of experience, over 2,100 projects completed worldwide and more than 7,180 clients. The name began as Aviation Communications. Its first product was a low fuel warning system for Bell Jet Ranger helicopters. The business then moved into satellite television, broadcast media and satellite internet. Today it builds, runs and maintains satellite ground station infrastructure.

Key services include site acquisition and establishment, and field services and project management. The company also offers multi-orbit antenna systems, and ground station sustainment and maintenance. It has a radome range, with metal space frame, sandwich, monolithic and air-inflatable types, plus radome field services.

Av-Comm also sells satellite hardware online. This covers earth station, VSAT, receive-only, flat panel and tracking dishes. RF equipment includes LNBs, LNAs, feedhorns, BUCs, SSPAs, TWTAs and RF over fibre gear. It also offers C band 5G interference filters. Ground station electronics include antenna control units, frequency converters, modems, spectrum analysers, broadcast headend gear and redundancy controllers. Installation accessories include waveguide parts, connectors, tools and dish mounts.

The company has grown by building and buying. It set up its Sydney Ground Station and Data Centre in 2015. It bought STEP Electronics in 2019, which supplies satellite hardware across Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific. In 2021 it formed the Av-Comm Group and set up SkyTel, a licensed telecommunications provider. In 2022 it bought R G Systems, which builds large ground stations for defence and government clients. That year it also opened an engineering hub in Brookvale and a defence office in North Sydney. It now has staff in the Americas too.

Services

• Satellite ground station design and installation
• Field services and project management
• Site acquisition and establishment
• Multi-orbit antenna systems
• Ground station sustainment and maintenance
• Radome supply and field services
• Satellite dishes
• RF equipment
• Satellite ground station electronics
• Installation accessories