Hughes looks to businesses in RI

Hughes looks to businesses in RI

JAKARTA (JP): Competition in Indonesia's satellite business
will become stiffer with the offer of a new high-tech satellite
service by Hughes of the United States.

Hughes Communications Inc., an affiliate of Hughes
International Corporation, will introduce the new satellite-based
service, called Spaceway, with a spacecraft in the Geostationary
Earth Orbit offering a Fixed Satellite System by using Ka-band
spectrum.

The system will consist of four interconnected regional
satellites providing service to nearly all of the world's
population.

Spaceway will provide "bandwidth-on-demand" -- to transmit and
receive voice, data, video, audio and multimedia at any time from
any place -- at up to six megabits per second.

The director of communications affairs of Hughes
Communications, Jeffrey D. Torkelson, told The Jakarta Post here
recently that the first satellite of the system will be in
service by 1999.

"The first satellite will beam to Asia, the region with the
most significant growth," he said.

The first satellite, which will orbit at the 111 degrees east
longitude, will also cover Indonesia. The other three satellites
will orbit at the 101 degrees west longitude (covering North
America), 49 degrees west longitude (Central and South America)
and 25 degrees east longitude (Europe, Africa and Middle East),
respectively.

Torkelson said that Indonesia will be one Spaceway's most
potential markets.

Unlike the regular communications satellite system which
applies Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT), Spaceway's end users
will access the system with Ultra Small Aperture Terminal (USAT),
high-tech equipment which can interface with a wide variety of
equipment, including telephones, facsimiles, personal computers
and videos.

When in service, Spaceway is likely to face fierce competition
with Indonesia's communications system, the Palapa-C series,
which are operated by PT Satelindo. Spaceway is of a HS-702 type.

However, both the HS-601 Palapa-C1 and the Palapa-C2
spacecraft currently serve mostly broadcasting companies in the
Asian region. The Palapa-C2 is the newest of Indonesia's eight
satellites manufactured by Hughes Space and Communications, a
subsidiary of Hughes.

Indonesia, with wide experience in satellite
telecommunications technology, expects to win competition in the
leasing of satellite transponders within the Asia-Pacific region.

The country's satellite business has shown significant growth
since its establishment in 1976. Indonesia has thus far secured
some 20 slots for its satellites in the orbits at the Swiss-based
International Telecommunications Union.

In addition to Hughes, Indonesia also has other partners in
satellite systems, including Lockheed Martin, which will develop
the Garuda satellites for satellite-based mobile
telecommunications, and CTA, which will develop Indostar direct
broadcasting satellite system.

Apart of being a possible sharp competitor for Indonesia,
Hughes has signed an agreement with the state-owned aircraft
assembler PT IPTN to involve the latter firm in certain parts of
the Palapa-C and the Palapa-D projects.

Besides providing support in the satellite business, several
subsidiaries of Hughes have also been involved in other projects
in Indonesia, including the fixed wireless telecommunications
developed by PT Ratelindo and the air traffic control system in
Jakarta. (icn)