Afghanistan has become the latest emerging nation to boast its own satellite capacity with a deal to move one of Eutelsat’s birds to its 48E orbital slot.
The French operator’s Eutelsat 28B satellite will be renamed AFGHANSAT 1 once it moves from…
Afghanistan has become the latest emerging nation to boast its own satellite capacity with a deal to move one of Eutelsat’s birds to its 48E orbital slot.
The French operator’s Eutelsat 28B satellite will be renamed AFGHANSAT 1 once it moves from 28.5E to its new location next month, covering Central Asia and the Middle East.
The spacecraft was launched successfully back in December 2008 but an onboard failure that was announced the following month reduced its available capacity. Its performance has since been stable and it is expected to remain operational until at least 2020.
For Afghanistan’s government, the deal accelerates the country’s access to satellite infrastructure as it appears to have ditched an earlier tender to develop its nearby 50E orbital slot. That plan involved building a new telecoms satellite for around US$250m, and by July 2012 it had attracted Eutelsat as an interested party, along with fellow operators SupremeSAT, APT Satellite and NewSat.
However, it is thought that this tender will not be pursued following the Memorandum of Understanding with Eutelsat, which includes scope for exploring longer term cooperation opportunities.
Speaking at the signing ceremony in Kabul, Eutelsat CEO Michel de Rosen said: “This MoU represents the fastest and most effective route to accessing infrastructure configured to deliver full coverage of Afghanistan and surrounding regions.
“It enables Afghanistan to scale up capacity as and when needed and to offer broadcasters, telcos and ISPs the immediate benefit of resources providing exceptional reach and performance.”
Afghanistan ICT Minister Amirzai Sangin said the agreement was a milestone for the country’s communications sector, which has seen mobile penetration grow from zero to 75% in the last 12 years.
“We are very happy to partner with Eutelsat on AFGHANSAT 1 which will provide access to ICT and broadcast services to Afghans, especially in unserved areas, and support our vision of transforming Afghanistan into an information society,” he said.