Thai firm hired for commercial activities of Bangabandhu-1 satellite

Bangladesh Communication Satellite Company Limited (BCSCL) has appointed Thai firm Thaicom Public Limited Company as the consultant for commercially launching the activities of Bangladesh's first geostationary communications satellite Bangabandhu-1 abroad, reports UNB.

BCSCL chairman Shahjahan Mahmood told UNB on Tuesday that they hired the Thai firm for the next two years for expanding the commercial activities of the satellite.

He said Thaicom Public Limited Company will work for developing coordinated market for the satellite.

Earlier, posts, telecommunications and information technology minister Mustafa Jabbar said Thales Alenia Space which developed the Bangabandhu-1 will hand over the satellite to Bangladesh within this month and its commercial activities will start at the end of the month.

State minister for information Tarana Halim had also said her ministry has urged all private television channels to use the Bangladeshi satellite alongside BTV for broadcasting their programmes.

Bangladesh entered the elite Space Club of 57 nations with the launch of its first geostationary communications satellite into the orbit by US space transport company SpaceX on 12 May.

The satellite was launched using the latest version of SpaceX's upgraded Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket, from the historic Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral.

Two ground stations -- one in Betbunia of Rangamati and the other at Joydevpur of Gazipur -- have been set up to control the satellite.