ASEAN members form joint venture to launch satellite
ASEAN members form joint venture to launch satellite
JAKARTA (JP): Three telecommunications companies from
Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines last week formed a joint
venture company to launch a telecommunication satellite by August
1988.
The managing director of PT Pasifik Satelit Nusantara (PSN),
Adi Rahman Adiwoso, said here over the weekend that his company,
Jasmine Telecommunications of Thailand, a subsidiary of American
Telephone and Telegraph (AT&T), and the Philippines Long-Distance
Telephone, established the new venture with an initial paid-up
capital of US$150 billion.
"In a meeting in Bangkok this week, we agreed that each of us
will pay $50 billion in equity," Adi said after opening PT
Satelit Palapa Indonesia (Satelindo)'s outlet at Golden Plaza,
South Jakarta, on Saturday. Adi is also Satelindo's commerce
director.
Adi noted that the new company, to be called Asia Cellular
Satellite System (ACSS), will be incorporated in Indonesia, with
a total investment of US$600 million. The company's operation is
centered in Batam, Riau, while its headquarters will be in
Jakarta.
"The Batam authority and the Ministry of Tourism, Post and
Telecommunications have given the green light and we have
prepared everything," Adi said.
Preference
Under the Association of Southeast Asian Nation's industrial
joint venture agreement, Adi said, any joint venture company
incorporated in one of the ASEAN countries with at least 51
percent of its shares held by companies in ASEAN countries is
entitled to preferential treatments in all ASEAN member
countries.
ASEAN groups Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines,
Singapore and Thailand. Vietnam will become an ASEAN member later
this year.
"We want this company to receive such a preferential facility
because all of its shareholders are companies in ASEAN
countries," Adi noted.
He said the state-owned international telecommunications firm
PT Indosat had expressed its intention to enter the new venture
company. Indosat is the first state-owned company floating its
shares on an overseas stock market.
"We haven't discussed it yet in detail with Indosat. But
maybe, the scenario is that Indosat will take 20 percent of PSN's
portion in ACSS," Adi said.
PSN, together with Satelindo, will operate the Hughes-built
Palapa-C1, whose launching has been rescheduled from October or
November of this year to May of next year.
Adi noted that ACSS is still in the process of negotiating
with Lockheed Martin of the United States over the construction
of a telecommunications satellite.
The satellite offered by Lockheed weighs 4,200 kilograms and
has a total capacity of two to five million telephone circuits
and a coverage range from India and China to all Southeast Asian
countries.
Adi said if the negotiations can be finished by June 15 at the
latest, "by August 1998 we will be able to start our commercial
operation".
"However, if we cannot reach an agreement by June 15 over the
pricing and other terms with Lockheed, we will shift to another
satellite manufacturer -- that is Hughes of the United States."
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