The government is almost ready to offload an international tender this month for launching the Bangabandhu 1 satellite amid fears that the ongoing political turmoil may deter response.
Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC), along with its international consultant, has prepared the tender documents and now they are scrutinising them, said an official of the telecom regulator.
However, they are not confident about an overwhelming response from international satellite companies because of the ongoing political turmoil here.
BTRC sources said there has been very little verbal response from the international satellite companies who had shown interest before.
“Our consultant contacted a number of satellite companies but they are pointing at our political crisis. But we are hopeful that we will be able to overcome this,” a senior BTRC official told the Dhaka Tribune requesting anonymity.
According to sources, the BTRC has paid $5.6m or 20% of the total cost to Intersputnik, a Russian satellite company, as the first installment for purchasing an orbital slot on 119.1 East longitude for the satellite.
And now the tender will be floated for other international companies to compete for the physical launching of Bangladesh’s first satellite into its orbit around the Earth.
Last month, a BTRC commissioner said they were ready to float the tender at the start of March; but there is still no sign of that.
According to the contract with Intersputnik, the BTRC will have to pay 30% of the cost or $8.4m within the next 15 months, 25% or $7m within 18 months after that and the rest within further eight months.
The deal with Intersputnik for a 15-year hold on the orbital slot was signed in January 15. The tenure of the “Bangabandhu Satellite Launching Project” is July 2014 to June 2017.
“Although we are already nine months behind schedule, we are very optimistic about finishing the project within the given time that is by June 2017,” said BTRC Commissioner Monirul Alam.
BTRC sources said the project does not have a director although work started long ago.
“We have also written about this to the government and hope that a project director will be appointed within a short time,” Monirul said.
