Bangladesh places satellite order with Thales Alenia


Details

Rebecca Hawkes

| 13 November 2015





Bangladesh's telecommunications authority has contracted Thales Alenia Space to build its inaugural satellite Bangabandhu.


The satellite will be positioned in orbit at 119.1° East in 2017, and provide direct-to-home broadcasting and telecommunications services both nationwide and across the surrounding region.

Thales Alenia Space will be the prime programme contractor, taking care of the design, production, testing and in-orbit delivery of the satellite.

The spacecraft will be based on the Spacebus 4000B2 platform and fitted with 26 ku-band and 14 c-band transponders. Ku-band capacity will cover Bangladesh and its territorial waters off the Bay of Bengal, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Philippines and Indonesia and will also provide c-band capacity over the whole region.

Thales Alenia Space will also orchestrate the construction and kitting out of two ground facilities – a satellite control and network operations centre – in partnership with Spectra Engineers in Bangladesh.

The contract was awarded following an invitation to tender by the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) earlier this year.