|
Media
baron Subhash Chandra has a number of firsts to his credit.
To that list add another one. India's first private sector
satellite initiative officially went onstream today with
the signing of a turnkey contract between Chandra's Agrani
Satellite Services Ltd (ASSL), Alcatel Space Industries
and Arianespace (providing the launch vehicle).
The contract was signed today by Chandra and Pascale Sourisse,
chairman and CEO, Alcatel, in the presence of Jean-Marie
Luton, president - director-general, Arianespace.
The geostationary satellite is expected to begin commercial
operations from the fourth quarter of 2003 and will be delivered
in orbit on an Ariane 5 launch vehicle.
The deal involves the in-orbit delivery of a 5.4kw satellite
with a 14-year lifespan. The long life satellite with 24
C band (12 in the India coverage beam and 12 in the Asia
coverage beam) and 14 Ku band transponders are distributed
over two beams, one for India coverage and the other steerable
over the Middle east, South East Asia or Europe. Of the
Ku-band transponders, seven will have a fixed India coverage;
three, a steerable coverage over Europe, Middle East and
South East Asia; and the remaining transponders will be
switchable between fixed and steerable. These transponders
have a total bandwidth of 1,404 MHz.
The satellite is expected to support a broad range of applications
ranging from TV broadcasting and DTH to rural and distance
routes.
Queried as to how much of the satellite's capacity would
be used by the Essel/Zee channels, Chandra said 15 per cent
of the C Band capacity and a small percentage of the satellite's
Ku Band capacity would be utilised. The remaining bandwidth
will serve television broadcasting and distribution companies,
Internet service providers and other telecom service providers.
The ASC Enterprises Ltd (Ascel)-promoted ASSL is the first
private satellite system to be authorised by the Indian
government under the 1997 Satcom policy framework. The government
has also approved the equity participation of Alcatel and
Arianespace in ASSL.
The main reason that the lead time for the satellite to
become operational is only 18 months or so is because ASSL
is acquiring an existing satellite from Alcatel. The satellite
was built in 1997 for use by Shinawatra Satellite, Thailand.
It was, however, never used and has been lying in storage
for four years.
The total project cost is Rs 11.5 billion in which the debt
funding of Rs 6.9 billion is being arranged by a consortium
of Indian banks and financial institutions. Of the equity
component of Rs 4.6 billion, Alcatel and Arianespace have
taken a stake of 9.75 and 3.25 per cent stake respectively.
This will be worth $15 million and $5 million respectively.
Click
here for more headlines
|
