ASEAN to jointly lease Intelsat transponders

ASEAN to jointly lease Intelsat transponders

JAKARTA (JP): Telecommunications operators in the Association
of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have agreed to unite in
leasing satellite transponders of Intelsat, the world's leading
provider of satellite services, to improve efficiency.

The state-owned PT Indosat, one of the ASEAN operators, said
in a statement here over the weekend that by jointly leasing
satellite transponders from Intelsat, the utilization of ground
communication equipment will be simpler for them.

Besides Indosat, ASEAN telecommunications operators using
Intelsat satellite transponders include Singapore Telecom,
Telekom Malaysia, Philcomsat of the Philippines, Jabatan Telekom
Brunei Darussalam of Brunei and CAT of Thailand.

Each of the six operators previously leased satellite
transponders separately.

According to the statement, following a meeting here early
this month, the operators agreed to jointly lease and use between
0.5 and 1.5 transponders of Intelsat's satellite orbiting in the
174 degrees over the Pacific Ocean.

Intelsat is a consortium grouping 138 countries. It operates
more than 20 satellites offering various telecommunications
services, including high-speed data communications, telecast,
telephones, video conference and satellite leasing. Intelsat
plans, by 1998, to launch Hotbird, a specifically multipurpose
satellite costing about US$300 million.

Indosat, which joined Intelsat in 1967, currently operates
five giant satellite dishes in Jatiluhur, West Java, directed to
Intelsat satellites. (icn)