The government is yet to decide on whether to join Saarc satellite, an Indian initiative, as it might jeopardise the business prospect of its own satellite.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Saarc Summit held in Kathmandu last November urged the member countries to join the Saarc satellite initiative.
He termed it a Saarc satellite but it will be funded, built and controlled by India.
The Indian side in the same month also sent letters to all countries to provide “principle concurrence” to join the initiative.
But it has so far provided no details.
“We have very little knowledge about the project. We are also going to launch our own satellite. Before providing our concurrence, we need to make sure it will not have any negative impact on our own initiative,” said a senior government official.
When contacted, a senior Foreign Ministry official said India is going to hold a meeting on Saarc satellite with stakeholders next month.
Bangladesh has undertaken a Tk2,967 crore project to build a commercial satellite with its own business plan to rent frequency for recovering the money.
“India must have its own business plan. If Bangladesh finds that the business plan and orbital position of the Saarc satellite do not conflict with Bangabandhu satellite, then we do not have any problem in giving concurrence,” said another government official.