Green Light For Thaicom 6 From ICT Ministry SATELLITE

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Green light for Thaicom 6 from ICT Ministry
By Usanee Mongkolporn
The Nation 2011-05-31

Operator looks to 2013 launch following approval of $160m project

Thaicom plans to launch the Thaicom 6 broadcasting satellite at a cost of about US$160 million (Bt4.85 billion) in 2013, following approval from the Information and Communications Technology Ministry last week.

Thaicom chief executive officer Arak Cholatanont said yesterday that the ministry's decision was in line with the approval given by the committee set up under Article 22 of the Public-Private Joint Venture Act. The committee was chaired by Jirawan Boonperm, permanent secretary of the ICT Ministry.

Arak said the decision to launch Thaicom 6 did not require Cabinet approval, according to the Article 22 panel.

The government appears to have had a bitter relationship with Thaicom, which is a flagship company of Shin Corp, founded by former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Thaicom, however, insists that it has never become involved in politics.

Thaicom 6 will be positioned in the orbital slot of 78.5 degree East. The company will seek a loan of $160 million to fund the project, of which between 30 and 40 per cent is for the launch cost and the remainder for the costs of the satellite itself and insurance.

Thaicom is in talks with US manufacturer Orbital Sciences Corp for the building of the satellite.

Thaicom's board approved the investment plan yesterday for the use of a long-term loan and cash flow to fund the project. The company will approach US Export-Import Bank for the financing loan, Arak added.

Thaicom owns one broadcasting satellite, Thaicom 5, which is fully utilised, and the iPSTAR broadband satellite. The company's concession term ends in 2021.

Arak said a return on investment in Thaicom 6 would be achieved in less than eight years.

The satellite, whose footprint will cover Thailand and the rest of Indochina, will have a larger capacity than Thaicom 5.

The medium-size 3,000-kilogram satellite will carry eight Ku-band transponders and 18 C-band transponders, and will have a minimum working life of 15 years.

Arak said that once the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission got off the ground, the company would request a licence so that it could continue to operate Thaicom 6 after its concession ends.

Thaicom 5 suffered a brief technical glitch in April, which knocked off its satellite-TV channels, including six free-TV stations.

This raised the question of whether it was time for Thailand to have an additional broadcasting satellite to back up Thaicom 5.

Besides increasing revenue, the company expects Thaicom 6 to meet rising demand for satellite services in the future.

Thaicom will pay 17.5 per cent of its overall revenue as a concession fee this year, rising to 20.5 per cent next year and 22.5 per cent in 2017 until the end of the concession period.

Thaicom's share price yesterday closed at Bt8.20, up 1.23 per cent. Shin stock closed at Bt30.75, a rise of 1.65 per cent on the day.

Meanwhile, Thaicom signed an agreement yesterday with Malaysian satellite-communications service provider Measat Global to allow the latter to become an iPSTAR national satellite operator with exclusive rights to provide bandwidth capacity and its related broadband services in Malaysia.

The contract is for a 10-year period, starting on September 1.

The secured bandwidth capacity is 3.3 gigabits per second, amounting to 7 per cent of iPSTAR's overall bandwidth capacity of 45Gbps. Currently, 25 per cent of iPSTAR capacity is being deployed.

Thaicom will start to realise revenue from the deal in the next quarter.