Philippine firm acquires aging Palapa satellite
JAKARTA (JP): Mabuhay Philippines Satellite Corporation, a satellite operator from the Philippines, has sign an agreement with the publicly-listed PT Pasifik Satelit Nusantara of Indonesia to acquire the latter's aging Palapa-B2P satellite.
A manager of Pasifik Satelit, Ron Pirolo, told The Jakarta Post yesterday that the agreement for the satellite acquisition was signed last Thursday.
He declined to reveal the cost of the deal. He was unable as well to provide information about the expected lifetime of the aging satellite, and at which orbit the inclined satellite will operate.
The Palapa-B2P satellite, the fourth of Indonesia's eight communications spacecraft, was previously operated by the state- owned domestic telecommunications provider, PT Telkom.
The satellite -- of the HS-376 type, with 24 transponders -- was manufactured by the Hughes Space and Communications Company of the United States. It was launched in March 1987 from Cape Canaveral. The spacecraft, previously orbiting at the 113 degree east longitude, was taken out of service by Telkom last March.
Normally, satellites of the Palapa-B series operate in the C- band, receiving from 5.92 gigahertz to 6.41 GHz and transmitting from 3.7 GHz to 4.4 GHz. The satellites use 10-watt traveling- wave tube amplifiers.
Pasifik Satelit, partly owned by Telkom, formerly planned to operate the Palapa-B2P satellite.
Mabuhay's president, Cesar Reyes, said that the Palapa-B2P -- to be renamed "Mabuhay" -- will begin serving broadcasting and telecommunications customers in the Philippines in advance of the launch of his company's satellite early next year.
Satelindo
Mabuhay is a consortium consisting of the Philippines Long Distance Telephone Co. of the Philippines, Pasifik Satelit and Everbright Group of China.
Philippines Long Distance Telephone was the first customer of Pasifik Satelit in 1992.
Pasifik Satelit, which floated part of its common shares on the Nasdaq Capital Market in the United States recently, owns six transponders on each of the 34-transponder Palapa-C1 and Palapa- C2 satellites currently operated by PT Satelindo. It will own six transponders on the Mabuhay satellite, to be launched in December.
Meanwhile, Satelindo announced yesterday that the lessees of the Palapa-C1 satellite have successfully shifted to the Palapa- C2 satellite.
Satelindo is the owner and operator of both the Palapa-C1 and Palapa-C2 satellites, which have been prepared to replace the operation of the satellites of the Palapa-B generation.
A Satelindo spokesman, Eddy Thoyib, told the Post that due to an anomaly on the Palapa-C1's battery discharge control, the Palapa-C2 has replaced it at 113 degrees east longitude. Meanwhile, Palapa-C1 is now directed to 150.5 degrees east longitude.
The replacement is necessary, because with the anomaly, the four Ku-band transponders of the Palapa-C1 will not be able to operate optimally during solar eclipses.
"The Palapa-C2 arrived at 113 degrees east longitude on June 25, while the traffic diversion was completed on June 30," Eddy said.
Lessees of the Palapa-C1 that now use the Palapa-C2 include Megatv, Sony, ABC, the American news channel CNN, the ESPN sports station, HBO entertainment network, Discovery, Viacom, Singapore's Asia Business News, NBC Asia, Star TV, Canal France International and Turner Far East Asia.
Other users include the state television network Televisi Republik Indonesia, and the country's five private television networks -- RCTI, SCTV, TPI, Indosiar and ANteve -- as well as domestic and overseas telecommunications firms. (icn)