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)