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)