Bangladesh's maiden satellite is unfolding ample business opportunities besides saving the country substantial foreign exchange through domestic and overseas renting of its communications services.
People familiar with the Bangabandhu Satellite project said they had received foreign interest in renting the country's first satellite which is expected to be launched into the orbit sometime next February.
Two Asian countries--Indonesia and the Philippines--have shown interest in renting services from it, a senior official working at the Bangladesh Communication Satellite Company Limited (BCSCL), the company that deals with management side, told the FE.
He said Indonesia needs the service as its own satellites cannot cover the whole of the world's 14th-largest country.
The official, however, said the company now plans to set up its marketing offices in the two countries for speedy business delivery on the information superhighway.
A senior official at the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC), who sees technical side of the project, told the FE that the satellite company may accrue around Tk 5.0 billion a year. And within the 7-8 years the amount will reach break-even point of its total investment of nearly Tk 30 billion.
Such wireless internet services just opposite the existing optical fibre can have applications in climate, environment, weather, energy, utilities, logistics, transportation, gaming, security, smart cities, healthcare, tourism and the like.
Md Saiful Islam, managing director at the newly formed BCSCL, said: "If we give services to the local televisions, then our project will be viable let alone the other opportunities."
Currently, nearly 30 local television channels are renting the services from external satellites at the expense of substantial amounts of foreign exchange.
He said the country even could offer services to neighbouring countries like Bhutan and Nepal through cable networks.
The beams which will come from the artificial tiny satellite will not cover the neighbouring countries as it will concentrate on some Southeast Asian nations, including Indonesia and the Philippines, and even Russia.
Another source familiar with the matter told the FE that the satellite communications, just alternative to the fibre technology, will not emerge as competitor of the Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company as he views satellites have not been a competitor to fibre in telecommunications.
He said satellites are used where fibre simply didn't exist. "This is known as 'gap fillers', which is simply where the satellite was used to fill the gaps in the coverage areas that did not yet have access to fibre/cable.
He, however, said the satellite communications have one important feature as it has security of the data.
"Since the up-link connection and the down-link connection are on different frequencies and fully encrypted, the contents are well-protected," he said.
Earlier it was scheduled to be launched sometime in December but it was delayed due to floods in Florida. The satellite is being manufactured in France and it is nearly in completion stage and handover to launching authority in Florida.
This will be launched from John F Kennedy Space Centre in Florida.
The company, BCSCL, was formed sometime in September and it had already appointed all key people for running the business as the satellite will live out within 15 years.
"There will be a three-month trial operation since the launch and we expect from June next our full commercial operations," the managing director told the FE.
The company was formed with an authorised capital of Tk 50 billion with Post and Telecommunications secretary as its chairman ex officio.
The satellite has 40 transponders, of which 20 will be kept for the country. Commercial operation of the satellite is expected to start in June 2018.
In November 2015, Bangladesh struck a Tk 19.51 billion deal with Thales Alenia Space to implement the project.
Bangladesh will be the 57th satellite country when it launches in the orbital slot on 119.1 degree east longitude that will also have a capacity of 40 transponders -- one transponder is equivalent to 36 MHz.
Its orbital slot was bought from Intersputnik, a Russian satellite company, for US$28 million in early 2015.
The satellite will be controlled by two ground stations at Gazipur's Joydebpur and Rangamati's Betbunia on the land owned by Bangladesh Telecommunications Company Limited (BTCL).
In 1957 the Soviet Union launched world's first artificial satellite, Sputnik 1. Since then, about 6,600 satellites from more than 40 countries have been launched. According to a 2013 estimate, 3,600 remained in orbit.
Of those, about 1,000 are operational while the rest have lived out their useful lives and become space debris.
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