Lanka to own communication satellite by 2015

Shirajiv SIRIMANE in Kandy

Sri Lanka would own its own communication satellite by 2015.This would be South Asia’s most modern and largest communication satellite and the first to be owned by the private sector in the region. Supreme Sat would own and operate this satellite from their space centre in Kandy for which the foundation stone was laid on Tuesday.

China Great Wall Industry Corporation, Wang Zhongmin. Picture by Saliya Rupasinge

Deputy Managing Director, China Great Wall Industry Corporation, China,Wang Zhongmin in an exclusive interview with the ‘Daily News Business’ said that the agreement to build the satellite would be singed in October in China in the presence of senior political leaders of both countries. “We would start building the satellite in January next year,” he said.

He said that the idea of having an own satellite for Sri Lanka was the brain child of President Mahinda Rajapaksa and he spelled it out when he was in China recently. Zhongmin disclosed that currently India owns around five communication satellites while last year Pakistan too built a communication satellite. The value of the SuprmeSat would be US $ 300 million and it would have three bands, X. C and KA and when completed it would be orbited from Beijing and would be placed over Sri Lanka waters in the Ocean. The SupreSat control centre in Kandy BOI zone would also be equipped with state- of- the- art space technology and would be the up linking position for the satellite.

The investment for this venture would be around US $ 60 million. The academy would consist of a “state- of- the- art” Satellite Ground Station situated at “Pallekele BOI Zone” which will provide “on the job” training for Sri Lankans who could interact with the already co-branded satellites of SupremeSAT/Chinasatcom as a preparatory measure to be geared to handle the fully owned satellite of SupremeSAT

China Great Wall Industry Corporation also built a communication satellite for Pakistan recently and over 80 % of space for this has been sold out.