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Broadband & Mobile Featured Article
February 15, 2008
Vietnam's First Satellite Ready to Go
By Richard Grigonis Executive Editor, IP Communications Group
VINASAT is the national satellite program of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. The project’s mission is to deliver satellite communications to Vietnam and surrounding countries. The $300 million undertaking consists of various projects, including a satellite ground station serving Vietnam Television.
The first satellite of the series, VINASAT-1 was originally planned to launch in 2005. However, the project was delayed until 2008 because of difficulties in Vietnam’s Ministry of Post and Telecommunications completing frequency
coordination procedures under the Radio Regulations of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). VINASAT-1 now sits on the Kourou launch pad in French Guyana, awaiting its April 2nd launch.
VINASAT-1 will be a geo-stationary satellite circling the earth in orbital slot 132 degrees East (which Vietnam registered with the ITU in 1999), weighing 2,600 kilograms and including about 25 C- and Ku-band transponders, each of which can handle about 500 telephone circuits or four-to-six television channels. The satellite will cover Vietnam and other Southeast Asian countries as well as parts of China and Japan.
VINASAT-1 could stay in orbit 15 years or more and will save Vietnam some US$15 million yearly, since it eliminates the need to lease telecom channels on foreign satellites such as ASIASAT, THAICOM, and MEASAT (News - Alert).
VINASAT-1 will be operated by incumbent telco Vietnam Post and Telecommunications Group (VNPT)’s international telephony arm, Vietnam Telecom International (VTI). It was the VNPT that awarded the contract to build the satellite to U.S. Contractor Lockheed Martin (News - Alert) Commercial Space Systems (LMCSS) in May 2006. The contract called for a turnkey hybrid telecom satellite system based on Lockheed Martin’s A2100A geosynchronous spacecraft series, having a LEROS-1C propulsion system, with operations to begin in 2Q 2008. (The A2100A is capable of delivering Ka-band broadband and broadcast services, fixed satellite services in C-band and Ku-band, high-power direct broadcast services using the Ku-band frequency spectrum and mobile satellite services using UHF, L-band, and S-band payloads.) Lockheed Martin managed the entire project, from satellite design and manufacturing to launch procurement arrangements, to be followed by final extensive in-orbit testing prior to Vietnam’s acceptance of the device.
VINASAT-1 will provide more than 200 digital television channels and tens of thousands of data transmission and telephone channels. The US$180 million satellite will cover all of Vietnam, providing telecoms services such as radio, TV and telephone communications to currently underserved areas. VINASAT-1 will thus improve the nation’s communication networks infrastructure by removing dependence on ground networks and allowing all of Vietnam’s rural communities and hamlets to be equipped with telephones and televisions. Moreover, the satellite’s coverage, or “footprint”, will extend into Southeast Asia, and parts of China, Korea, and Japan. This should help foster economic development within Vietnam and enable the country to enter the communications marketplace with a robust, reliable telecom network, anchored by VINASAT-1.
Richard Grigonis is an internationally-known technology editor and writer. Prior to joining TMC (News - Alert) as Executive Editor of its IP Communications Group, he was the Editor-in-Chief of VON Magazine (News - Alert) from its founding in 2003 to August 2006. He also served as the Chief Technical Editor of CMP Media’s Computer Telephony magazine, later called Communications Convergence (News - Alert) (News — Alert), from its first year of operation in 1994 until 2003. In addition, he has written five books on computers and telecom (including the Computer Telephony Encyclopedia and Dictionary of IP Communications). To see more of his articles, please visit his columnist page.
The first satellite of the series, VINASAT-1 was originally planned to launch in 2005. However, the project was delayed until 2008 because of difficulties in Vietnam’s Ministry of Post and Telecommunications completing frequency
coordination procedures under the Radio Regulations of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). VINASAT-1 now sits on the Kourou launch pad in French Guyana, awaiting its April 2nd launch.VINASAT-1 will be a geo-stationary satellite circling the earth in orbital slot 132 degrees East (which Vietnam registered with the ITU in 1999), weighing 2,600 kilograms and including about 25 C- and Ku-band transponders, each of which can handle about 500 telephone circuits or four-to-six television channels. The satellite will cover Vietnam and other Southeast Asian countries as well as parts of China and Japan.
VINASAT-1 could stay in orbit 15 years or more and will save Vietnam some US$15 million yearly, since it eliminates the need to lease telecom channels on foreign satellites such as ASIASAT, THAICOM, and MEASAT (News - Alert).
VINASAT-1 will be operated by incumbent telco Vietnam Post and Telecommunications Group (VNPT)’s international telephony arm, Vietnam Telecom International (VTI). It was the VNPT that awarded the contract to build the satellite to U.S. Contractor Lockheed Martin (News - Alert) Commercial Space Systems (LMCSS) in May 2006. The contract called for a turnkey hybrid telecom satellite system based on Lockheed Martin’s A2100A geosynchronous spacecraft series, having a LEROS-1C propulsion system, with operations to begin in 2Q 2008. (The A2100A is capable of delivering Ka-band broadband and broadcast services, fixed satellite services in C-band and Ku-band, high-power direct broadcast services using the Ku-band frequency spectrum and mobile satellite services using UHF, L-band, and S-band payloads.) Lockheed Martin managed the entire project, from satellite design and manufacturing to launch procurement arrangements, to be followed by final extensive in-orbit testing prior to Vietnam’s acceptance of the device.
VINASAT-1 will provide more than 200 digital television channels and tens of thousands of data transmission and telephone channels. The US$180 million satellite will cover all of Vietnam, providing telecoms services such as radio, TV and telephone communications to currently underserved areas. VINASAT-1 will thus improve the nation’s communication networks infrastructure by removing dependence on ground networks and allowing all of Vietnam’s rural communities and hamlets to be equipped with telephones and televisions. Moreover, the satellite’s coverage, or “footprint”, will extend into Southeast Asia, and parts of China, Korea, and Japan. This should help foster economic development within Vietnam and enable the country to enter the communications marketplace with a robust, reliable telecom network, anchored by VINASAT-1.
Richard Grigonis is an internationally-known technology editor and writer. Prior to joining TMC (News - Alert) as Executive Editor of its IP
Communications Group, he was the Editor-in-Chief of VON Magazine (News - Alert) from its founding in 2003 to August 2006. He also served as the Chief Technical Editor of CMP Media’s Computer Telephony magazine, later called Communications Convergence (News - Alert) (News — Alert), from its first year of operation in 1994 until 2003. In addition, he has written five books on computers and telecom (including the Computer Telephony Encyclopedia and Dictionary of IP Communications). To see more of his articles, please visit his columnist page.
