NEC Corporation and trading houses Sumitomo Corp, and Mitsui & Co have won an order from the Russian Satellite Communications Company (RSCC) for a communications payload, “Express – AM1” in the first such order for a Japanese company from Russia.
The order is the first of three Express – AM satellites to be awarded. The order of the first phase is approximately US$ 37 million. NEC expects the total order of the three satellites will amount to over US$100 million.
The Express – AM1 satellite will be launched at the beginning of 2002 and will consist of Ku – band:16 CH / C – band: 9 CH / L – band:1CH transponders, and is aimed at use of telecommunications, broadcastings, and Internet in the territory of Russia, Europe, India, CIS, Middle East, and Africa. NEC has been selected as the systems integrator for the complete communication payload.
RSCC is state owned company operating under the Russian Federal Ministry for Communications and Informatization and has 11 communications satellites together with the largest satellite ground station operations in the country.
RSCC plans to launch 10 new satellites and has selected NEC as one of its key partners for this task. The company has already launched three of its planned satellites and plans to launch another seven including three Express – AM satellites from 2002 to 2003.
