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Agrani project launch delayed

Latha Venkatraman

MUMBAI, July 11

WORK on the Rs 1,160-crore satellite project of Agrani Satellite Services Ltd (ASSL) is yet to commence as the project is awaiting financial closure as well as US presidential waiver on import of satellite components.

The satellite is, therefore, expected to be launched in the last quarter of 2002, a senior ASSL official said.

As of now, the Subhash Chandra-promoted ASSL is the only Indian private initiative to send a satellite into orbit. The company is a subsidiary of ASC Enterprises Ltd (ASCEL).

ASSL's talks with Alcatel Space Industries, which may pick up an equity stake in the satellite project, are still on. It is also in discussions with satellite launching company Arianespace for a potential satellite launch contract and a minority stake in ASSL.

According to the ASSL official, work on the project should start within 6-8 weeks. ``Discussions are progressing and we should see the project taking off over the next 6-8 weeks,'' the official said. The decision on acquiring stake will also be taken soo n, he said.

ASSL reworked its earlier satellite plans and went into talks with Alcatel for an in-orbit delivery deal. Previous plans, in league with Lockheed Martin, involved a large satellite, with a project cost of $800 million. Funding proved difficult following US sanctions, prompting ASSL to put its plans on the backburner.

Despite the delay, the project cost remains at Rs 1,160 crore. Of this, an equity portion of Rs 460 crore has been underwritten by Mr Chandra, the promoter of ASCEL and Chairman, Zee Telefilms Ltd. For the debt portion amounting to Rs 700 crore, ASSL wil l tie up with financial institutions and banks. Having received a letter of intent for Rs 300 crore from IDBI, ASSL is hopeful of tying up the rest of the cost.

The Rs 1,160-crore estimate covers the cost of the satellite, launch, services, insurance, marketing and cost of acquiring the orbital slot.

According to ASSL officials, once launched the cost of running the satellite would be low. The satellite has 24 C band transponders and 14 Ku band transponders. Of the 24 C band transponders, 12 have a range spanning the Middle East to Australia. The Ku band will include a spot beam over India and a steerable beam over Europe/Middle East.

As captive use of the satellite is expected to be minimal, the project is seen to bring in revenues through transponder capacity leasing. Currently, India uses 135 satellite transponders, of which 65 are leased from Insat.

As regards global mobile satellite services, ASCEL will be the Indian arm of ICO Global's operations in the country. Mr Chandra made an investment of $50 million in ICO Global amounting to a 3 per cent equity stake.

New ICO, as the company is called now, will provide voice and medium rate wireless data services via satellite globally, with a focus on key vertical market segments by 2003, ASSL officials had said.