Sri Lanka’s Supreme SAT, the first and only satellite operator in the country, is to use the orbital slot of 50 degrees east in Afghanistan with the aim of launching another satellite, officials of the company said. The Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan recently signed a MoU [...]

The Sundaytimes Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka’s Supreme SAT to use Afghanistan slot for another satellite launch

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Sri Lanka’s Supreme SAT, the first and only satellite operator in the country, is to use the orbital slot of 50 degrees east in Afghanistan with the aim of launching another satellite, officials of the company said.

The Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan recently signed a MoU with SupremeSAT to form a technical committee to commence discussions on the commercial and technical proposal of the company, they revealed.

Supreme Group’s Corporate Legal Counsel Sharm Fernando and Baryalai Hassam, Deputy Minister of Communications and IT (MCIT) signed the MoU in Kabul.

Negotiations of the two parties are now underway on the modalities on the usage of Afghanistan slot which has more advantages than the available Sri Lanka slot for a communication satellite launch.

SupremeSAT Chairman R. M. Manivannan said, “It is indeed a great honour to be entrusted by the government of Afghanistan with this responsibility”.

He said, “Emerging from a developing nation, we are well aware about the challenges and obstacles faced by countries like Afghanistan to enter the space age. SupremeSAT was able to bring rapid progress to Sri Lanka’s space journey and is confident of repeating the same success story for Afghanistan as well,” he said.

The Afghanistan government initiated an international competitive tender for the usage of its valuable orbital resource with seven international companies making offers. The successful bidder was to secure the rights to use the Afghan orbital slot and to launch a satellite in partnership with the government of Afghanistan. The list of bidders included Eutelsat of Europe (Ranked within the world’s top 3 satellite operators having more than 30 satellites), Hong Kong Listed APT Satellite Holdings Ltd and Australia’s Newsat.

After months of evaluation and negotiations, The Afghan government decided to sign a MoU with Sri Lanka’s SupremeSAT, he said.
The company’s long-term plan is to utilize the planned orbital slot of Sri Lanka, which is located at 50 degrees east and launch SupremeSAT, the country’s first ever telecommunications satellite.

SupremeSat Group CEO, Vijith Peiris, told the Business Times that the company is at present using the Chinese Orbital Slot as the Telecommunication Regulatory Commission’s (TRC) approval for the Sri Lankan Orbital Slot is pending.

The Sri Lanka SupremeSat satellite, which was launched in Xi Chang – China on 27th November 2012 is orbiting in the ‘Chinese orbital slot’ without any interruptions or technical difficulties and is being monitored by China’s state-owned Great Wall Industry Corporation, he said, adding that the company plans offer Direct to Home services at a reasonable rate for TV users, not only Sri Lankans, but also the South Asian region.

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