P.T. Pasifik Satelit Nusantara (PSN), one of the Asia Pacific’s leading satellite companies, today announced that its Asia Cellular Satellite (ACeS) mobile telecommunications project has set up a joint venture company in India with a leading local telecommunications provider and has also secured National Service Provider (NSP) agreements in the nations of Pakistan and Bangladesh. Terms of the agreements were not disclosed.
The India joint venture, which will serve as the NSP for that country, and
the Pakistan and Bangladesh agreements bring the number of participating
nations in ACeS to seven. Other NSP agreements have already been secured in
Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines and Taiwan. The company also reported
that it has entered into a joint study with Malaysia’s second largest GSM
operator toward forming a NSP in that country, and that it is in advanced
discussions with potential NSPs in Sri Lanka and Nepal. Should agreements in those countries be executed, ACeS will exclusive arrangements with service providers in 10 Asian nations. [NSP agreements designate exclusive local providers for ACeS service, usually under long-term contracts whereby the NSP purchases a fixed amount of airtime from ACeS.]
Adi R. Adiwoso, CEO of PSN and ACeS, stated, “With these agreements we are
assured that ACeS will operate in all of the major ASEAN countries. We
believe ACeS enjoys a unique opportunity in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
These are nations with virtually no cellular penetration to date due to two
primary hurdles: high cost of service and difficulty in building terrestrial
networks. ACeS offers a practical solution to both of these issues. Our low cost structure facilitates usage rates that local customers will find
reasonable, and our GSM, satellite-based solution promises total accessibility for users and full compatibility with existing networks.”
The India joint ventures partners ACeS with a local telecommunications
company operating fixed and mobile telephone services as well as GSM-standard cellular service in eight Indian provinces. In Pakistan, the NSP is the country’s largest AMPS-standard cellular provider, currently serving 125,000 subscribers. GSM-standard service was only introduced in Pakistan in 1996 and currently only counts 10,000 subscribers. In Bangladesh, ACeS has designated as its NSP a leading telecom equipment supplier that, via a joint venture with a third party, has a license to provide fixed and GSM mobile telecom services in that country.
ACeS is a satellite-based mobile communications system that will provide
fully digital voice, data and fax services throughout Asia beginning in 1999. The system is designed as a cost-effective and convenient complement to existing terrestrial-based networks, serving large remote areas with no
current access to telecommunications. ACeS will use a lightweight, dual-mode telephone handset manufactured by Ericsson Mobile Communications AB that allows users to select between satellite and cellular (either GSM or AMPS) modes. ACeS users will be able to roam to any GSM network worldwide, and outside GSM users will be able to use ACeS handsets when traveling in Asia. The ACeS system can operate from one L-band satellite supporting a total of two million subscribers and 11,000 simultaneous telephone channels.
Pasifik Satelit Nusantara (PSN) is the first private satellite communications company in Indonesia and, with over US$200 million in assets,
is also one of the leading satellite companies in the Asia Pacific. Based in Jakarta, PSN is focused on becoming a fully integrated provider of satellite-based telecommunications products and services in Asia, including the wholesale leasing of satellite capacity and the following three new services under development which are to be offered to end-users:
- Xpress Connection(TM), a low cost, VSAT-based rural telephone service;
- Asia Cellular Satellite (ACeS), a satellite-based, handheld
digital mobile telecommunications system providing both voice and data
services; and - Multi-Media Asia (M2A), Asia s first satellite-based multimedia digital telecommunications system (MMDS), supporting two-way voice and data services, Internet access, fax and DTH television services.
