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Revenues from Azerspace 1 disclosed

16 November 2017 14:47 (UTC+04:00)
Revenues from Azerspace 1 disclosed

By Aygul Salmanova

Revenues from the operation of Azerbaijan’s communication satellite “Azerspace-1”, the country’s first satellite, amounted to $80 million.

This was stated by Rashad Nabiyev, head of Azercosmos OJSC, at a meeting in the country’s National Academy of Sciences (ANAS) on November 16.

Azerbaijan also owns the Azersky, remote sensing satellite.

“Pictures received from the Azersky are provided free of charge to the scientific community of Azerbaijan for scientific research,” Nabiyev noted. “The satellites’ management is carried out directly by employees of Azercosmos. We will continue to increase the country’s personnel potential in this field.”

He said that the launch of Azerspace-2, the second geostationary satellite, is scheduled for 2018. Earlier in October, it was said that the construction of second geostationary satellite, has been completed by 90 percent and it is planned to complete the remainder of the work within the next four months.

France’s Arianespace company, which earlier launched the first Azerspace/Africasat-1a satellite (46 degrees east longitude), will launch the second satellite into orbit.

Earlier, a source in Azercosmos said that about 80 percent of resources of Azerspace-1 satellite have already been commercialized and annual sales of satellite resources are forecasted to grow.

Azercosmos is the first satellite operator in the Caucasus. The company's strategic development plans include the launch of a second telecommunications satellite Earth observation services in the coming years.

Today, the company provides telecommunication services through the Azerspace-1, which in turn provides millions of viewers with an access to information and communications services worldwide.

The launch of the first Azerbaijani telecommunications satellite “Azerspace-1” was carried out February 8, 2013. This year marks exactly four years since the launch of the first telecommunications satellite into orbit.

The satellite is designed to render the digital broadcasting, Internet access, and data transmission services, as well as the creation of VSAT multi-service networks, and the provision of government communications.

For the four-year period since the launch of the satellite, it has been possible to attract potential customers and make its orbital position recognizable. The satellite will begin to pay back its investment after eight years of operation in orbit.

The overall number of TV and radio channels Azerspace-1 currently broadcasts reaches 130. At present, service area of Azerspace-1 includes several countries of Europe, the Caucasus, Central Asia, the Middle East and Africa.

In December 2014, Azercosmos took over the rights to operate and commercialize Azersky, high resolution (1.5 meter imagery products) optical Earth observation satellite, and entered into the commercial business of Earth observation services, including geo-information services. Income of Azerbaijan from the operation of Azersky is expected to exceed $200 million within the next decade.

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