The Ministry of Communication and Information Technologies (MCIT) of Azerbaijan has submitted a request to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) for the allocation of a new orbital slot at 62E.
The ITU confirmed the information saying that a…
The Ministry of Communication and Information Technologies (MCIT) of Azerbaijan has submitted a request to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) for the allocation of a new orbital slot at 62E.
The ITU confirmed the information saying that a coordination request, containing C, Ku and Ka-bands, was submitted at the end of last year for 62E. This request “is currently in the queue waiting for technical and regulatory examination,” added an ITU spokesperson.
However, when the coordination request is published in April, the ITU will also disclose the names of the affected administrations and satellites.
“At the present time, pending examination, the exact number of affected administrations is unknown although there are close to 50 administrations within a +/- 10 degree arc of 62E,” the ITU said.
Coordination is necessary to avoid signal interference.
Gulam Abdullayev, a chief adviser for the ministry, was also quoted saying that Azerbaijan is looking to launch services from three other orbital slots – 43.2E, 58.5E and 95.9E – previously secured from the ITU.
It was recently reported that the country is planning to launch three satellites between the end of 2012 and 2015 via it’s the newly created national satellite operator Azerkosmos.
The first one will be Azerspace, the country’s first-ever communications satellite. Built by Orbital Sciences and based on the STAR-2 platform, the satellite will contain 36 Ku- and C-band transponders and is due to be launched by Arianespace at 46E.
ECA financing worth US$215m has already been secured for the bird with US Export-Import Bank backing a US$116.6m loan from BNP Paribas to help fund its construction and Coface guaranteeing a US$98m loan from Societe Generale and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation for the launch.
In mid-2010, the Azerbaijani MCIT signed an agreement with Malaysia-based satellite operator Measat for the joint development of 46E, where Azerspace (also known as Africasat-1a) will eventually be located.
Under the deal, Measat moved its Measat-1 satellite to the orbital slot in 2007 thereby enabling the Azerbaijani government to satisfy ITU rules over filing orbital slots in a specific timeframe. Measat-1 was later replaced by Africasat-1 at 46E.
