An international tender is going to be offloaded today in order to lunch Bangabandhu-1 satellite, a senior official of the telecom regulator has said.
Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) with its international consultant has prepared the tender documents.
“We have completed our preparation and hopeful about going an international tender,” ATM Monirul Alam, commissioner (Spectrum Management) of BTRC told the Dhaka Tribune last week.
Meanwhile, BTRC paid $5.6 million (20% of the cost) to the Intersputnik, a satellite company from Russia, as first instalment of purchasing the orbital slot on 119.1 East Longitude, the cost of which was fixed at $28 million (around Tk218.96 crore).
According to the contract signed on January 15 this year with Intersputnik, the BTRC will have to pay 30% of the cost ($8.4m) within the next 15 months, 25% ($7m) within 18 months after that, and the rest within the next eight months.
The Bangabandhu-1 satellite will be launched by 2017, according to the project proposal.
BTRC sources said though they are very enthusiastic about the tender of the first satellite of the country, they found a very low verbal response from a host of interested satellite companies.
“Our consulting company has contacted different satellite companies but they are pointing to our political crises, but we are also hopeful to overcome it,” a senior official of BTRC told the Dhaka Tribune requesting anonymity.
Earlier, the government found six alternative offers for launching its first ever satellite, and some of them were also cheap, but the government remained steadfast in a faster arrangement.
The tenure of “Bangabandhu Satellite Launching Project” was in between July 2014 and June 2017.
“Although we are already nine months behind our schedule, we are very optimistic about finishing the project within the given time – by June 2017,” Monirul Alam added.
Earlier on September 16, the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) approved Tk2,967 crore for the Bangabandhu-1 project.
Of that fund, Tk1,652.44 crore came from foreign aid, and the remaining Tk1,315.51 crore will be paid by the government.
Of the total cost, BTRC has estimated Tk1,312.58 crore to be operational expenditure and Tk1,655.38 for capital expenditure.
BTRC is very optimistic that it has taken only seven years for reaching breakeven point.
According to the project proposal, the satellite would minimise the existing digital divide between the country’s urban and rural areas as it would take broadcasting and telecommunication services to the most remote areas of the country, and introduce profitable and promising services such as direct service to households throughout the country.
It also claimed that after launching own satellite lots of new jobs will be created and it will open up new lines of high tech business opportunities and revenues.
According to the project documents, BTRC has selected two locations for ground handling – Telecom staff college in Gazipur and Betbunia Earth Station in Rangamati.
When launched, the Bangabandhu-1 satellite will serve the Saarc countries along with Indonesia and the Philippines as well as the ‘Stan’ countries – such as Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan – if the satellite’s frequency is properly coordinated.
