GUNNING FOR ALPHA MARATHI

A non-resident Indian group is launching a Marathi language television service from end-November. Branded Prabhat, its programming menu will purely be entertainment oriented. It is headed by Deepak Aggarwala a former distribution executive of MTV India with Marathi cine star Ramesh Deo being an executive director. The channel is being positioned against Zee TV's Alpha Marathi (which is to be encrypted in future) as a free to air service.

KAZAKHSTAN LIFTS ROCKET LAUNCH BAN

Russia and Kaszakhstan officials reached an agreement to lift the ban on usage of the Baikonur cosmodrome last week. The facility had been closed to Russians following the failure and crash of a second Proton rocket late last month which was blasted off from the site. Kazakhstan, however, refused to lift the ban on Proton rocket launches from Baikonur until a detailed enquiry reveals how future mishaps can be avoided. Following the go-ahead, the Korean satellite Globalstar, was scheduled to be launched by a Soyuz rocket on 22 November.

ARIANE 5 COMMERCIAL LAUNCH ON 10 DECEMBER

XMM, an European Space Agency satellite designed to study the formation of galaxies and stars, will be the passenger on the first commercial flight of the Ariane 5 vehicle on 10 December. The Ariane 5 heavy league launcher has been undergoing qualification tests for the past three years following an unfortunate debut when it blew up on its first mission in 1996. Since then, Arianespace officials have been working on making it flight-ready.

UKRAINE TO USE BRAZIL AS SPACE LAUNCH PAD

Ukranian rockets could be launched from Brazil's equatorial cosmodrome in 2001 should the two countries' Parliaments ratify a broad cooperation agreement that was reached last week. Under the 10 year agreement, 12 launches a year are planned to be made off the Ukrainian Tsyklon-4 rocket, which is to be upgraded further technically, with an increase in its payload capacity. The Brazilian government is adding rail links and other infrastructure to make the launch site better accessible.

BPL SIGNS SECOND RAILWAY FIBRE OPTIC AGREEMENT

Consumer electronics and telecom group, BPL, has signed its second agreement for use of the of fiber along Indian railway tracks. This time it is with the Konkan Railway Corporation Limited (KRCL) and it covers the 760 kilometer route covering the three states of Maharastra, Karnataka and Goa. Under this agreement, a joint venture is to be set up to provide Internet services in towns and small cities along the route from Panvel in Maharashtra to Mangalore in Karnataka. A US partner is also likely to take part in the project. Earlier, BPL had struck a deal with RITES to use railway fiber for Internet services between Chennai and Mumbai with spurs leading to Secunderabad and Bangalore.

Meanwhile, Ircon has decided to form a joint venture Ircon Telnet for a fiber optic backbone with British Telecom, Enron, and Mahindra Telecom. The backbone will be built along the Mumbai-Delhi corridor and will be thrown open to telecom companies, ISPs and cable TV networks.

EUROPESTAR EYES INDIA BASE

Europestar, the satellite joint venture between Alcatel and Loral Space is setting up its base in India in the shape of a liaision office in Delhi. The company is planning to launch a Ku-band satellite Europestar 1 to be located at 45 degrees east and with eight transponders focused on India by June next year off a Ariane-4 launcher. Because of its wide beam, EuropeStar 1 will offer cross-connectivity between Europe and south-east Asia, the Middle East and Africa, India and Europe. The company is hoping to sign on Indian V-Sat operators, ISPs and broadcasters to become its clients.

INDIAN ANIMATION MAJOR BUYS SINGAPORE FIRM

Animation major Penatfour has bought over Singapore-based Animasia International Private Ltd and its Philippines-based offshoot Kingdom Animasia. The company made this acquisition to meet its requirement for 2D and 3D animation and to generate further innovative and creative ideas.

COLGATE TOPS INDIAN BRAND RANKINGS;
ZEE TV & DD FIGURE IN THE TOP 10

A&M India has ranked Colgate as the top brand in India in the latest survey conducted by the Indian Market Research Bureau. Milk products brand Amul is at the No 2 spot while Dettol, Britannia, Lifebuouy, Ariel, Horlicks, Zee TV and DD follow in that order.

NET COMMUNITY CENTRE VENTURE FOR CHENNAI

The Reliance group will be partnering World Tel and the Tamil Nadu government in a joint venture which will set up 1,000 cyber community centres in the state with about two to twenty computers per centre. The first phase of the project is expected to cost in the region of Rs 4000 million for the first phase.