Azerspace-1 to be used for communication services in Africa, Middle East
By Rashid Shirinov
Azercosmos Company under the Azerbaijani Ministry of Communications and High Technologies has signed a contract on provision of telecommunication services for leading international satellite operators DCS Telecom and Don Telecom, the company said on November 7.
DCS Telecom and Don Telecom will use the resources of Azerspace-1 satellite to provide voice, data, video, mobile, network and other services in the regions of Africa and the Middle East.
Azercosmos JSC has also signed a contract with the Turkish radio channels Radyo Akman, Radyo Derman and Radyo Efsana, which provides their broadcasting on the frequency 11027/H/7500 from November 1.
Azerspace-1, first telecommunications satellite of Azerbaijan, was launched on February 8, 2013. It provides a variety of services, such as digital television, data transmission, VSAT multi-service networks, and governmental communications. The total cost of the Azerspace-1 project was $230 million.
Recently, Azercosmos has also signed contracts with two Georgian TV channels and a Turkish radio channel on their broadcasting via Azerspace-1. Moreover, it was announced that the satellite will be used also during emergency situations.
Currently, the service area of Azerspace-1 includes Europe, Africa, Central Asia and the Middle East. Such countries as Malaysia, Russia, Germany, Ukraine, Egypt, Georgia, UAE, Lebanon, Cameroon, the United Kingdom, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Estonia and Belarus use services of this satellite.
This year, work on designing Azerspace-2 telecommunication satellite has been launched. The satellite will be put into orbit in 2017, and cover a service area of Europe, South-East Asia, the Middle East and Africa.
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Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov
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