MultiMedia Asia selects ground station supplier

MultiMedia Asia selects ground station supplier

JAKARTA (JP): PT MultiMedia Asia (M2A) has selected a French-
American consortium to supply an earth station for the company's
multimedia satellite communications system.

M2A, owned by PT Pasifik Satelit Nusantara (PSN) and PT
Indosat, will launch a satellite in the first quarter of 1999,
and begin operating later that year.

PSN's president Adi R. Adiwoso told The Jakarta Post here
yesterday that the earth station contract, signed early this
month, was awarded to a consortium of U.S. Titan Information
Systems, French Alcatel and Thomson MultiMedia.

He said the earth station would be part of the M2A satellite
system. The satellite will provide multimedia digital
telecommunications services into small fixed antennas directly to
end-users in Asia.

Alcatel said here yesterday that as part of the US$105 million
contract for the system's initial phase, the French-American
consortium would take responsibility for the entire ground
segment of M2A's project.

M2A's satellite-based telecommunications system will be able
to serve up to four million users in Indonesia, Southeast Asia,
Australia, China, Korea and Japan. The satellite is developed by
U.S. firm Space System/Loral and Alcatel. It has a 10-year
mission life.

Over the course of the initial phase, the M2A system will
serve some 400,000 users in the country.

PSN estimates that about four million terminals will be sold
over 10 years at $650 each. The company, which is listed on the
U.S. Nasdaq market, estimates break-even point will be reached
when about 200,000 terminals are sold. (icn)