A Chinese investor and the Lao government have inked a joint-venture agreement to develop a Lao satellite project, a minister has said.
A master agreement for the US$960 million project, signed last week, is 70 percent funded by the investor and 30 percent funded by the Lao government.
“We already signed the master agreement, and discussions on the details of project development will be our next step,” Minister of Post and Telecommunications Hiem Phommachanh told the Vientiane Times yesterday.
Mr Hiem said agreements on project development details, including commercialisation, are expected in the near future.
The government hopes to launch the satellite by 2015 to mark the 40th anniversary of the founding of the Lao People's Democratic Republic.
The Lao government owns the rights to one fully coordinated BSS Orbital Slot at the location 126 degrees east, where the project will be developed.
The US$960 million will also cover the construction cost of operation and research facilities. Vientiane will calculate the value of orbit ownership rights for its contribution to the share, Mr Hiem said. The project will provide 36 transponders for TV signals, which can provide services to many countries.
The Lao satellite project has been in the making for some time. Previously, Laos had joint-ventured with Thai investors to launch a satellite into this orbit, but the Thai investor's financial troubles led to its collapse. Later, the government inked a cooperation agreement with US investors but that too failed due to the same problem, Mr Hiem said.
He said Laos also plans to place a satellite in the 128.5 degree east orbit, and the government intends to ask Beijing for a loan to realise the US$258 million project.
The loan will be used to purchase the satellite and pay the launch costs. It will provide 22 transponders for both television and telephone signal transmission. The Lao government signed an agreement with a Chinese company in December to develop the 128.5 degree project. Director General of the ministry's Telecommunications Department, Mr Somlith Phouthonsy, told the Vientiane Times the agreement to secure the loan from China's Exim Bank to develop the project is expected t o be signed next month.
