Satelindo to launch new satellite in 2003

JAKARTA (JP): Telecommunications company PT Satellite Palapa Indonesia (Satelindo) said it was planning to launch a new Palapa C satellite by 2003 to back up and eventually replace the Palapa C-2 satellite currently in orbit.

Satelindo's director for satellite services Djoko Prajitno said on Wednesday the company was currently working on a request proposal containing technical specifications of the new satellite.

"When we finish, we will present the proposal to all satellite vendors who will then give us their price offering," he said on the sidelines of the signing ceremony of the transponder lease agreement between state-owned PT Indosat and Satelindo.

Djoko said the Palapa C-2 satellite was currently operating at between 85 percent to 90 percent capacity. Satelindo thus needs a new satellite to meet the demand from broadcasting companies.

"Our Palapa satellite has the widest coverage in Asia Pacific and demand for its services has been growing," he said, adding there has already been demands from 14 new customers for transponder lease. Currently the satellite services 55 domestic and foreign audio and video broadcast companies.

A transponder is a radio relay equipment onboard a communications satellite that receives radio signals, amplifies them, changes their frequency and sends them back to earth.

Djoko said the new Palapa C satellite would first back up the Palapa C-2 and then replace it at the end of its lifetime in 2011.

"We will invite bids for the manufacture and launching of the satellite next year and we expect the launching to take place in 2003," he said, adding that the plan was subject to shareholders' approval.

Djoko said funding for the satellite would either come from Satelindo's own reserves, or from foreign and local investors including Indosat, which has a 75 percent stake in Satelindo. Satelindo's remaining shares are owned by DeTe Asia.

"Many investors have expressed interest in funding the new satellite, including from the U.S., Australia, Malaysia and Thailand," he said.

Satelindo has to pay US$120 million to the maker of the satellite as well as an additional amount to cover insurance and launching costs, according to Djoko.

He did not specify the launching cost but French satellite launcher firm Arianespace earlier said the average cost to launch a satellite using an Arianespace rocket ranged between $80 million and $85 million depending on the weight.

The Palapa C-2 satellite was built by the California-based Hughes Space & Communications (now Boeing Satellite Systems) for Satelindo and another telecommunications company PT Pasifik Satelit Nusantara (PSN).

It was launched into geostationary orbit on May 15, 1996, by Arianespace using the Ariane 44L launcher and weighed 2,989 kilograms at liftoff.

The satellite is equipped with 30 C-band transponders, including six onboard spares and four Ku-band transponders.

It provides telecommunication services over the Indonesian archipelago, Southeast Asia and part of China.

Regarding the agreement signed by Indosat and Satelindo on Wednesday, Indosat's director of operation engineering Garuda Sugardo said, Indosat agreed to fully lease one transponder at Palapa C-2 satellite until 2006.

Indosat has been actually a lessee of the satellite's transponder but prior to the new agreement, it had been leasing only "three quarters of the transponder", he said.

The transponder would be used for Indosat's development of Very Small Aperture Antenna Internet Protocol (VSAT-IP) and interlink DCS network, he said.

"It will be used to develop our (telecommunications) backbone, and for our Internet service," Garuda added.

Satelindo's transponders are leased out at US$1.7 million a year, Satelindo's president USM Tampubolon said.(tnt)