(AFP, Abu Dhabi) – Thuraya Satellite Telecoms Co. of the UAE has chosen the US-based multinational consortium Sea Launch to send its first satellite into orbit in September, newspapers reported Sunday.
Sea Launch of Long Beach, California, will oversee the satellite launching from its pad in the Pacific Ocean off the American coast, Ibrahim Khalil Ibrahim, spokesman for the Abu Dhabi-based Thuraya company, said.
The satellite will be put into geostationary orbit and will be used commercially at the end of the year after a test period, Ibrahim said.
He said that US company Hughes Space and Communications International had finished building the satellite, which was currently undergoing tests.
The satellite will provide 1.8 million connections in 99 countries in the Middle East, North Africa, southern Europe, Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent.
Thuraya ordered two geostationary satellites from Hughes in September 1997 for around $1billion. The second satellite is due to be launched in 2002
Thuraya is an autonomous company established in 1997 by the UAE's state-owned Etisalat telecoms monopoly, with more than 15 regional service providers and investment firms in partnership.
The 15 Arab companies include Etisalat (26 percent), Abu Dhabi Investment Company (20 percent), Arabsat (10 percent) and Q-Tel of Qatar (10 percent).
© Agence France Presse 2000
© 2000 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
