Bangladesh’s government has picked Thales Alenia Space to build its first satellite, bringing its space aspirations closer to reality following political and orbital slot delays. The France and Italy-based manufacturer is tasked with providing 85% of the project’s funding.
Bangladesh’s government has picked France and Italy-based Thales Alenia Space to build its first satellite, bringing its space aspirations closer to reality following political and orbital slot delays.
Thales will base the Bangabandhu spacecraft on its upgraded Spacebus 4000B2 platform, equipping it with 14 C-band transponders to cover Bangladesh and the surrounding region, and 26 Ku-band transponders to target the country and its territorial waters of the Bay of Bengal as well as India, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Philippines and Indonesia.
The European firm’s US$248m turnkey contract includes responsibility for Bangabandhu’s ground segment, and is likely to be backed by French export credit agency Coface, as well as eyeing a European Ariane 5 rocket for its launch in 2017.
The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) reiterated its goal of launching the satellite on its 16 December 2017 national holiday.
However, the delays in ordering the bird risk seeing the country miss this deadline, according to local reports citing manufacturers that bid for the contract – which alongside Thales were Boeing, Orbital ATK, MDA/SSL and CGWIC.
Bangladesh will lose the 119.1E slot it bought from Russia’s Intersputnik for US$28m early this year if Bangabandhu is not launched by June 2018, reported the Daily Star.
The country acquired the slot after trying to coordinate its own positions for several years. Delays have also resulted from disagreements between BTRC and Bangladesh’s Finance Ministry.
BTRC settled on a Tk29.68bn (US$380m) budget for the satellite project and launched the tender in March this year, requiring the winning manufacturer to provide funding for 85% of it. The government is paying the rest.
CGWIC had approached the country a year before the tender about placing the satellite at Bangladesh’s planned 133E slot.
The Chinese firm’s bid this year reportedly had the highest stipulated costs. The Daily Star said Canada’s MDA had the lowest bid of US$222.75m, followed by Thales Alenia Space, a joint venture between France’s Thales (67%) and Italy’s Finmeccanica (33%).
As well as lessening Bangladesh’s reliance on foreign satellite capacity, which costs it about US$14m a year, Bangabandhu aims to narrow its digital divide and expand DTH and telecoms services to more rural areas. The country will also look to sell services to nearby countries, and the government has previously talked about ordering at least two more satellites under a commercial venture.
Golam Razzaque, BTRC’s project director for Bangabandhu, said: “The contract for this telecommunications satellite signed with Thales Alenia Space, the key European player in space telecommunication, marks a major turning point in the history of Bangladesh, not only reducing the digital divide, but also generating business development and creating jobs.”
Thales will help build two ground facility buildings for the spacecraft and local firm Spectra Engineers, its partner in Bangladesh, is in charge of civil work for the ground facilities.
Space Partnership International, a consultancy firm based in the US, has been advising the country on the space project since March 2012.
Meanwhile, India has been planning a dual communications/meteorology satellite that would serve Bangladesh and the other Saarc (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) countries. Saarc comprises India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal and Afghanistan.
Nepal, Maldives and Afghanistan have also been looking into ordering their first satellite in recent years.
