Singapore satellite to serve Asia-Pacific<\/p>\n
SINGAPORE (AFP): Singapore launched yesterday a satellite
\nfacility to serve the Asia-Pacific broadcasting industry in a
\nstep towards reinforcing the city state's position as a regional
\nhub, officials said.<\/p>\n
ST Teleport, a subsidiary of the Singapore Technologies Group,
\nis licensed to offer uplink-downlink facilities to broadcasters,
\nprogrammers, news bureaux and cable television companies.<\/p>\n
The facility was launched by Minister for Information and the
\nArts George Yeo, who said the name ST Teleport \"conveyed
\ngraphically the idea of Singapore as a junction node.\"<\/p>\n
Yeo said ST Teleport was designed to have systems reliability
\nof \"not less than 99.99 percent\" and had the back-up of
\nuninterrupted power supply \"24 hours a day, seven days a week.\"<\/p>\n
\"As with all other hub functions, the key is reliability and
\nflexibility,\" the minister said. \"To succeeded as a
\ntelecommunications and multi-media hub, we must have this
\nreputation for reliability.\"<\/p>\n
\"We can only be a hub by serving others, by serving others
\nbetter than they can serve themselves,\" Yeo said.<\/p>\n
ST Teleport, built at a cost of S$15 million (US$10.71
\nmillion), has satellite links to major regional and international
\nsatellites including Apstar-1, Rimsat G1 and Rimsat G2 and from
\nMay, to PanAmSAT-4 and Palapa B2P.<\/p>\n
It also has terrestrial links via fire-optic cables to
\ndifferent parts of Singapore island, and is the third operator
\nlicensed to offer satellite uplink facilities after Singapore
\nTelecoms and Singapore International Media.<\/p>\n
The information minister used the occasion to stress the need
\nfor Singapore to build up its information and information-
\nprocessing facilities to be able to discern the impact of future
\ntechnologies.<\/p>\n
Yeo said Singapore had to beef up its technological
\ninfrastructure to supplement its favorable geographical position
\nas the southern-most point of the Eurasian continent which all
\nships must pass by between east and west.<\/p>\n
Singapore needed to build what he called the \"new
\ninfrastructure to remain a junction for goods, services, people,
\ninformation and ideas.\"<\/p>\n
\"If we succeed, we will be one of a number of great cities in
\nthe Pacific Century. If we fail, other hubs will displace us and
\nwe will be relegated to a backwater,\" he warned.<\/p>\n
\"For example, what will be the impact of long-haul jumbo-jets
\nor sub-orbital hyper-sonic aircraft on Changi airport?\" Yeo
\nexpressed Singapore's resolve to develop the telecommunications
\nand multi-media industry to benefit international broadcasters,
\nand to make the city-state a \"convenient and attractive place for
\ncreative minds.\"<\/p>\n
ST Teleport's parent company Singapore Technologies Group is
\nthe largest industrial and technology-based group in Singapore
\nwith a skilled workforce of 15,000 and with more than 100
\ncompanies spanning aerospace, shipbuilding, engineering besides
\ninformation technology, electronics and telecommunications.<\/p>\n
The new facility will be a technical services and distribution
\ncenter for international television and hubbing center for the
\nbroadcasting media, its promoters say.<\/p>",
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