Arianespace still upbeat on Indonesian market

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia remains an important market for satellite manufacturers and launchers despite the lack of orders in the last few years, a major satellite launch service provider said.

Regional director of Arianespace's ASEAN office Richard Bowles said on Thursday that Indonesia still needed more satellites to support the rapid development in the country's telecommunications infrastructure.

"The potency of telecommunications growth in Indonesia remains enormous," he told a media gathering.

He acknowledged that Indonesia was still in difficult years due to the financial crisis, which hit the country in late 1997.

But Bowles said that the country could still develop and launch more satellites with a less expensive budget using Arianespace's rocket.

He said Arianespace had launched three Indonesian satellites so far, namely Palapa C2 in May 1996, Cakrawarta in November 1997 and Telkom-1 in August 1999.

Palapa C2 and Telkom-1 are owned by state-owned telecommunications company PT Telkom, while Cakrawarta is owned by multimedia company PT Media Citra Indostar.

There are at least five companies in Indonesia with licenses to operate satellites: Telkom, Media Citra Indostar, mobile phone and international direct dial operator PT Satelindo, satellite- based communications provider PT Pasifik Satelit Nusantara and multimedia company PT MultiMedia Asia.

Indonesia was the first Asian nation to operate a domestic satellite when it launched Palapa C2 in 1996. At that time, the satellite-based telecommunications system was only applied by developed countries like Canada and the United States.

Indonesia has now five satellites in orbit: Telkom-1, Palapa B-2R, Palapa B4, Palapa C2 and Cakrawarta. The five satellites offer 111 transponders to serve various telecommunications needs to hundreds of local and international users.

Indonesia will have two more new satellites, the Garuda-1 and the M2A. Garuda-1, owned by Pasifik Satelit Nusantara, will be launched next month on a Lockheed Martin's Proton D-1-e rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

In order to anticipate a future demand on satellite-based telecommunications services, the Indonesian government has booked 24 satellite slots at the International Telecommunications Union.

Bowles said Arianespace was very interested in being involved in the launching of Indonesia's next satellites.

Telkom has reportedly planned to construct and launch another communications satellite in the very near future.

"There are no preliminary talks in the bidding of the launching service for Telkom's next satellite so far. But Arianespace will definitely be happy to participate in the bid," he said.

Bowles said Arianespace was upbeat about seeing good business in Asia in the near future because the region showed great interest in satellite facilities.

"The Asian market will be more buoyant than in 1999 as countries need more satellites. India, for example, has just issued a new policy to allow foreign satellite-based internet operators to open a business there. That will lead to an increase in satellite demand," he said.

Asia has been an important market for Arianespace, Bowles said, adding that approximately one third of the company's current 40 launch contracts were satellites owned by Asian countries.

Arianespace is a consortium of 53 firms from 12 European countries, of which French companies together hold the largest share of 55.54 percent, followed by German firms with 18.58 percent, Italian with 8.11 percent and Belgian with 4.17 percent. (cst)