Telkom may sell 'Palapa-B2R' to lessor PSN

Telkom may sell 'Palapa-B2R' to lessor PSN

CIBINONG, Bogor (JP): Publicly listed PT Telekomunikasi
Indonesia (Telkom) said on Monday it was considering selling its
Palapa-B2R satellite to satellite transponder lessor PT Pasifik
Satelit Nusantara (PSN).

Telkom's president A.A. Nasution said the company would no
longer use the satellite following the launch of its new Telkom-1
satellite in August this year.

"We are going to sell Palapa-B2R. First priority will be given
to PSN. We'll offer the satellite to other parties if PSN decides
not to buy it," he told journalists during the opening ceremony
of Telkom's new Rp 19.4 billion (US$2.7 million) satellite main
control station in Cibinong.

The priority given to PSN was based on an initial agreement
signed with the company, he said.

All transponder transmissions from Palapa-B2R had been
transferred to Telkom-1 by Nov. 6, he said, adding that the new
satellite's transponders would be fully leased by the first
quarter of 2000.

Telkom-1, launched in August this year on an Ariane 42P rocket
from the Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, has 36
transponders, each of which has about four separately leased
circuits.

The $197.6 million satellite will provide for up to 20 years
various telecommunications services, including multimedia and
high-speed internet services, satellite telephony networks,
backbone transmissions and analog or digital broadcasts to dozens
of countries in the Asia Pacific region.

Palapa-B2R, which has 24 transponders, was launched in 1990.

Nasution, who declined to reveal the sales value of Palapa-
B2R, said the satellite could still be used for another three to
five years.

A company official said Telkom previously leased a single
circuit of Palapa-B2R's transponders at a minimum annual leasing
fee of $1 million.

Telkom's director of planning and technology, Andi Siswaka
Faisal, said there were several local and overseas companies
outside of PSN that had contacted Telkom regarding the
satellite's sale.

"The companies include one from Canada. The others are mostly
companies which operate in Asia, Africa and South America," he
said without naming the companies.

He said Telkom wanted PSN or other companies which bought
Palapa-B2R not to use the satellite to cover Indonesia,
especially if the firm was to offer services similar to Telkom's
Telkom-1 satellite.

PSN itself has its own satellite, the Garuda-1.

The satellite is managed by PT Asia Cellular Satellite (ACeS),
which is PSN's joint venture firm with American satellite maker
Lockheed Martin, the Philippines' Long Distance Telephone Company
and Thailand's Jasmine International.

The launch date of Garuda-1 has been delayed several times
since last year, mostly due to technical problems found in the
Proton D-1-e rocket made to lift the satellite from the Baikonur
Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, Russia.

Garuda-1 is expected to be launched soon and begin operations
in the first quarter of 2000, providing mainly satellite-based
cellular telecommunications using ACeS' GSM system to connect
with dozens of countries in the Asia Pacific region. (cst)