'Telkom-1' adds more power to Indonesia's satellite business

By Christiani S.A. Tumelap

JAKARTA (JP): The launching of PT Telkom's new satellite Telkom-1, an Indonesian third generation satellite, from Kouru, French Guiana, on Friday will adds strength to the country's satellite business.

Indonesia now has five satellites in orbit: Telkom-1, Palapa B-2R, Palapa B4, Palapa C2 and Cakrawarta. The five satellites offer 111 transponders to serve various telecommunications needs to hundreds of local and international users.

Indonesia will have two more new satellites, the Garuda-1 and the M2A, to be launched this year.

The Garuda-1 satellite, owned by local private company PT ACeS, will be launched from Kazakhstan in September.

Adi Rahman Adiwoso, president and chief executive officer of PT Asia Cellular Satellite (ACeS), a subsidiary of PT Pasifik Satelite Nusantara (PSN), said the satellite would commence commercial operations in the first quarter of 2000 to cover at least 10 countries in the Asia and Pacific regions.

The M2A satellite will be owned by PT Multi Media Asia, an Indosat-PSN joint venture company.

The M2A will provide multimedia digital telecommunications services, including data and the Internet, through small fixed antennas, directly to users. It will have Asia-wide coverage.

The M2A, the launch of which was delayed from June 1999, was constructed by United States aerospace firm Space System/Loral.

As for Telkom-1, Telkom president A.A. Nasution said the 36 C- band transponder satellite would start commercial operations in October to provide telecommunications services, including multimedia and high-speed Internet, satellite telephony networking, backbone transmission and analog or digital broadcasts.

He said the US$197.6 million satellite, weighing 2,655 kilograms at liftoff, will cover Indonesia and dozens of other countries, including Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam, Singapore, Thailand, Myanmar, Vietnam, Cambodia, the Philippines, Laos, Hong Kong, Taiwan, New Papua New Guinea and northern Australia.

The Telkom-1 satellite was developed to replace the service currently provided by another Telkom satellite in orbit, the Palapa B-2R, which is due to end its service life in 2000 or 2001.

Telkom previously launched eight satellites: Palapa A1 in 1976, Palapa A2 in 1977, Palapa B1 in 1983, Palapa B2 in 1984, Palapa B-2R in 1987, Palapa B4 in 1990, Palapa C1 and Palapa C2 in 1996.

The Palapa A1, A2, B1, B2 and C1 satellites are no longer in orbit.

The country's satellite telecommunications sector was previously handled exclusively by Telkom. Telkom's domination was halted when the government decided to open the business to other companies in 1976.

Telkom handed over ownership of Palapa C1 and C2 to Satelindo in 1996 after the company was appointed to take over some of Telkom's transponder lease business.

Satelindo is expected to launch its third satellite system, Palapa C3, within the next two years. The satellite is designed to serve more than 100 digital services covering Indonesia, China and India.

Apart from Telkom, ACeS/PSN, Satelindo and Multi Media Asia, there is another company, PT Media Citra IndoStar, that also has a license to operate telecommunications satellites.

MCI, a subsidiary of PT Datakom Asia, operates the Cakrawarta satellite currently in orbit. The satellite has five transponders, each capable of serving eight channels, or a total of 40 channels. The satellite is mainly utilized by Datakom to support its television cable business, Indovision.

Telkom's Nasution warned that Indonesian satellite operators would face tougher competition in Southeast Asia as neighboring countries had rapidly developed their satellite businesses.

Malaysia has its Measat satellite, the Philippines has the Mabuhay, Thailand has the Thaicom and Singapore has the ST-1, he said.

He said other Asian countries, including Brunei Darussalam, Laos and Cambodia, had also started to develop their own satellites.

Nasution, however, was upbeat that Indonesian operators would survive the competition, claiming that the country has more experience obtained from 20 years in the business.