Dhaka – Bangladesh is going sign a deal with India for using a transponder of the proposed south Asian satellite, Tomorrow 23 March 2017 at BTRC office , BTRC secretary Sarwar Alam confirm the independent this morning.Dhaka is expected to be benefited from the agreement as it would be able to use one, out of the eight, transponders of the six-nation satellite to be operated by India, BTRC Secretary said.
Both the authorities have already finalised the draft of the deal, official added.
Indian High Commissioner Harsh Vardhan Shringla and Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) Chairman Shahjahan Mahmood will sign the deal on behalf of their respective sides.
State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam will also be present at the ceremony.
The proposed Saarc satellite will now be rebranded as the South Asian satellite after Pakistan dropped out from the project . BTRC informed the newsman.
The idea of Saarc satellite was first put forward by Indian Prime Narendra Modi during the association’s summit in Nepal in November 2014.
The satellite was meant to be a gift from India, which will design, build, launch and maintain it, for the benefit of Saarc members in various fields including telecom and tele-medicine. BTRC official Added.
Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, the Maldives and Nepal responded positively to the idea, but Pakistan and Afghanistan refused to join the consortium, halting the project. Than India has decided to launch it under a new moniker with its own costs. The Indian Space Research Organisation is aiming to launch the satellite soon.
The Bangladesh government has decided to get on board with the South Asian satellite even though it might create some interference with the country’s Bangabandhu-1 satellite downlink.
In satellite telecommunication, a downlink is the link from a satellite down to one or more ground stations or receivers.
The South Asian satellite’s lifetime will be 12 years, with the ability to cover the Saarc region only with its 12 transponders, according to the concept paper. One transponder is equivalent to 36 megahertz.
The Bangabandhu-1 satellite will have a capacity of 40 transponders and cover Indonesia and the Philippines as well as Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.
“So the South Asian satellite will hardly be of use to us. Since we do not have to contribute toward its cost, we have decided to join the consortium,” said A senior BTRC official.
The Bangabandhu-1 satellite will have a lifetime of 15 years and will be launched by December 2017 at a cost of Tk 2,967 crore. The project got the prestigious “Recognition of Excellence” award from the International Telecommunication Union last year ! – Staff Reporter
