Vietnam’s first satellite ready to brave challengesThursday, January 31, 2008
Thanh Nien News (Hanoi)
Two months prior to launching VINASAT-1 satellite, operators say they are prepared to wait as long as 12 years before the endeavor registers profit.
In the first year after its launch, only a small portion of total satellite capacity will be in demand, said Vice President Lam Quoc Cuong of the satellite’s business operator, Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group’s (VNPT) International Telecommunications Company.
Cuong estimates that about 90 percent of total satellite capacity might be leased and put into use four years post-launch.
Twelve years from now, the satellite project might see profit.
Critics say, considering the satellite will operate for only 15 years, three years of profit would not be enough to cover costs.
But Cuong disagrees.
“What we can calculate is purely monetary profit,” he said.
“This is our first satellite though, and there is another type of profit that can’t be calculated.”
The satellite, Cuong emphasized, would be as much an assertion of national power - serving political, security, and defense purposes - as a technological advance to improve the country’s telecommunications infrastructure.
Manufactured by US aerospace company Lockheed Martin, the 2.7 ton satellite carries 20 C- and Ku-band transponders for radio, television, and telephone transmission services covering Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, part of Myanmar, Japan, eastern China, Korea, India, and Australia.
Set to be launched into orbit by the French rocket Ariane 5 from a launching station in French Guyana, the structure cost a total investment of VND3 trillion (US$188 million).
A small number of local and international businesses have shown interest in renting the satellite’s services, Cuong said.
In response to the general concern that service prices would be set high to offset expensive production costs, Cuong says this would not happen.
He stresses that prices would be competitive, but high enough to cover costs and ensure profit in the last three years of the project.
For instance, Ku frequency services, which cover smaller areas and have high demand, will be charged higher prices.
“Taken as a whole, our price policy is flexible, depending on different types of services and customers,” Cuong said.
Deputy Minister of Information and Telecommunications Tran Duc Lai also confirmed that project stakeholders are willing to risk losses to give customers the most viable prices.
Lai suggests that monetary loss is one of many challenges awaiting the nation’s first satellite under-taking which its operators are ready to face.
“Other countries have also encountered great difficulties when they launched their first satellites,” he said.
Source: Tuoi Tre
In the first year after its launch, only a small portion of total satellite capacity will be in demand, said Vice President Lam Quoc Cuong of the satellite’s business operator, Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group’s (VNPT) International Telecommunications Company.
Cuong estimates that about 90 percent of total satellite capacity might be leased and put into use four years post-launch.
Twelve years from now, the satellite project might see profit.
Critics say, considering the satellite will operate for only 15 years, three years of profit would not be enough to cover costs.
But Cuong disagrees.
“What we can calculate is purely monetary profit,” he said.
“This is our first satellite though, and there is another type of profit that can’t be calculated.”
The satellite, Cuong emphasized, would be as much an assertion of national power - serving political, security, and defense purposes - as a technological advance to improve the country’s telecommunications infrastructure.
Manufactured by US aerospace company Lockheed Martin, the 2.7 ton satellite carries 20 C- and Ku-band transponders for radio, television, and telephone transmission services covering Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, part of Myanmar, Japan, eastern China, Korea, India, and Australia.
Set to be launched into orbit by the French rocket Ariane 5 from a launching station in French Guyana, the structure cost a total investment of VND3 trillion (US$188 million).
A small number of local and international businesses have shown interest in renting the satellite’s services, Cuong said.
In response to the general concern that service prices would be set high to offset expensive production costs, Cuong says this would not happen.
He stresses that prices would be competitive, but high enough to cover costs and ensure profit in the last three years of the project.
For instance, Ku frequency services, which cover smaller areas and have high demand, will be charged higher prices.
“Taken as a whole, our price policy is flexible, depending on different types of services and customers,” Cuong said.
Deputy Minister of Information and Telecommunications Tran Duc Lai also confirmed that project stakeholders are willing to risk losses to give customers the most viable prices.
Lai suggests that monetary loss is one of many challenges awaiting the nation’s first satellite under-taking which its operators are ready to face.
“Other countries have also encountered great difficulties when they launched their first satellites,” he said.
Source: Tuoi Tre
5 comments:
The Vietcong like to show off! But then I again, I would mine invest in something for 12 years just to make money and beside most people trained to be a doctor take about 10-14 years just to make serious money!
Cambodian government needs to take a long term view too otherwise the Cambodian government will become another puppet or slave to their neighbors again!
it takes a lot of money to have a space station. i bet you, russia is helping them to do this. what a waste of money. viet gov't needs to control illegal viets from coming to cambodia, first, before they try to show off to cambodia their puny satelite dish or a fake one, maybe, it's not even theirs. picture like this, is very deceptive.
You're wasting your your money ah HO!you will go bankruptcy.what do you have to show to the world?and who would understand your barbaric language?had you paid the fishers men familys that your people kill them in past fews month yet?"ANANIKUM AMERICA RULES!?
Most physicians who I personally known did not attend medical schools, followed by many years of internship, and then finally became physicians not because of money.
Some people I know make millions of dollars via import-and-export business. However, you cannot become rich by becoming a physician.
This is a significant milestone for their country; also, this is their proudest moment in history to have attained such advanced technology in their country. Whereas, Cambodia has not achieved anything that would consider a important milestone. Thus, might as well have Cambodia become the Vietnamese province.
There are a lot of things that Cambodia needs to learn from their regional countries.
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