Citing a need to upgrade its communications infrastructure, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam said today that it's ready to join the satellite club.
According to numerous sources (Associated Press, Reuters, and others), Vietnam has purchased a specially-built satellite from Lockheed Martin for US $200 million and will spend an unreported amount to launch it into orbit next month aboard an Ariane 5 rocket built by ArianeSpace SA, of Evry, France.
The satellite, known as VINASAT-I, has the transmission capacity to handle 10 000 voice/Internet/data channels or 120 television channels, according to the Vietnam Posts and Telecommunication Group (VNPT) and has an expected lifespan of 15 to 20 years.
A spokesperson for the state-sponsored group said the country will also build a pair of ground stations to work with VINASAT-I, in northern Ha Tay province and southern Binh Duong province. These will bring the total price tag of the project up to $300 million, a sum the Communist government hopes to recoup over the next decade.
"Vietnam has reached the point where significant improvements of the telecommunication infrastructure are needed for its economic and social development," VNPT Vice General Director Nguyen Ba Thuoc said at a press conference in Hanoi today.
He said that growth in the telecommunications sector in Vietnam has risen sharply in the last few years, with some 19 million people subscribed to Internet services and 30 million signed up for cell phones (out of a population of 85 million).
Up until now, Vietnam has been leasing satellite services from Australia, Thailand, and Russia at a cost of $15 million.
The 2.4 metric ton satellite is scheduled for launch April 12 from the Centre Spatial Guyanais, at Kourou, French Guiana (the same base that launched the European Space Agency's Jules Verne Automated Transfer Vehicle on Sunday).
"Vietnam will be more active to improve network capability and quality of telecommunication, IT, and communication services and to reduce the gap between cities and rural areas," added Thuoc.
He noted that the new satellite will meet public needs such as providing weather information and navigation guidelines to fishing ships and oil rigs, as well as offer remote health-care and education services to islands and remote areas.
The launch will make Vietnam the fifth Southeast Asian nation to operate its own satellite service, joining Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and the Philippines, which all told employ 80 spacecraft in geostationary orbit.
