The joint venture, to be called Loral Orion-India, Ltd., will provide high-speed Internet access via satellite to and from India for business customers, Internet services providers (ISPs) and software development companies. Loral Orion will hold a 49 percent stake in the venture, with the other 51% to be held by Natelco.

Software development groups in India are creating some of the world�s most advanced computer technology and software. In 1997, software exports from India to the United States totaled approximately US$1.8 billion. Indian software development companies need fast, reliable and efficient Internet access in order to send their software and technology products to locations both within and outside India. Loral Orion is pursuing the provision of additional telecommunications capacity in India to meet this growing demand.

Hans Giner, president of Loral Orion-Asia Pacific, Inc., said, �Throughout Asia, Loral Orion is seeing untapped demand for reliable business communications, including high-speed Internet access to the United States. Loral Orion and Natelco anticipate even greater demand as more and more software technology parks are established and as new ISPs enter the market. Even now, Indian ISPs are adding about 10 percent more users each month. In the corporate community, high-technology businesses in India are looking for ways to connect to other technology centers around the world and Loral Orion and Natelco can offer them a high-speed highway to those locations.�

Loral Orion-India, Ltd. will focus on delivering Internet access services in the coming months as regulations in India are being liberalized to allow these services to be provided from India to other countries. The joint venture will offer Loral Orion�s WorldCast Internet access services, and valued-added services including Internet bursting services that allow customers to expand the bandwidth as needed. Loral Orion will also offer advanced transmission technologies to the joint venture, including Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) which deliver more efficient and secure transmissions. To provide these services, the joint venture company will initially use international satellites, which cover the Indian region and then transition to the powerful Orion 3 satellite once it becomes operational in early 1999.

Loral Orion�s partner, Natelco, with corporate offices in Mumbai, currently provides radio paging service in 25 cities throughout India. Natelco is also licensed to provide turnkey VSAT services using its gateway earth stations in Delhi. Natelco�s activities include manufacturing, infrastructure development and value-added services companies in more than 30 major cities in India. Natelco�s manufacturing facility is ISO 9002 certified, supplying state of the art telecommunications products for the Indian Department of Telecommunications and other major users in India.