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Madhumathi D.S.

First international client clinched in global bid

Bangalore , June 30

The upcoming Indian communications satellite has clinched its first international client in a global bid, marking Insat's toehold entry into the global commercial satellite space.

Sri Lanka's Government-owned broadcaster Rupavahini has booked a small — but significant — slot on Insat 4C, the satellite that ISRO is set to launch in early July, according to official sources.

The Sri Lankan ride on Insat-4C gives Antrix a foothold in a highly-competitive, multi-billion international satellite market, the sources said. Rupavahini has already been accommodated on a working Insat while 4C gets ready for an indigenous launch.

Domestic media major Sun TV has hogged most of the 4C capacity, taking seven of the 12 Ku-band transponders.

Six of these are for DTH and one is meant for DSNG or digital satellite news gathering.

With each leased Insat DTH transponder hovering at Rs 4.6 crore a year, this could mean a revenue of around Rs 35 crore for ISRO's commercial arm, Antrix Corporation.

Last year, Antrix tasted its first commercial success with DTH when the Star-Tata DTH alliance took all the 12 Ku band transponders aboard Insat-4A. The transponder business will generate Rs 40 crore every year for ISRO, as its Chairman, Mr G. Madhavan Nair, had earlier said. In the late 1990s, Intelsat had ordered Rs 100 crore worth of space on Insat-2E over 10 years.

Antrix bagged the Rupavahini order of an undisclosed value in a bid contested by established operators such as Panamsat, Thaicom and Singapore's ST1 a few months ago, the sources told Business Line.

More players book space

Many media players including CNBC, Times TV and Kairali have also booked space for DSNG operations on two of 4C transponders.

Rupavahini's is said to be part of this capacity and is meant for broadcast links across Sri Lanka with Colombo through local earth stations.

The National Informatics Centre (NIC) has leased three transponders on 4C while some capacity will be kept aside as spare or for migration of some clients from the older 3B Insat-3B, the sources said.

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Sun DTH, Lankan TV to ride on Insat 4C

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