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Technology Stocks : Loral Space & Communications -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Valueman who wrote (6301)	6/16/1999 5:41:00 AM
From: Thomas	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 10852

Valueman, No WSJ ad in Europe. Incidentally, ran across the following story on the wires. Is there just one L Star satellite sitting around half built on the shop floor? Has it been written off? I would think that with the uptick in Asian markets (if it is not a total sucker's rally), L Star might actually make it to the launch pad within 12 months. Any thoughts? SSL obviously is not a major contributor of value (or earnings) in the sum of the parts exercise, but it sounds interesting that they bill the project as a joint venture. Perhaps with Orion 3 floating around aimlessly in the wrong orbit waiting to be used for target practice, LOR would be in the market for a Asian GEO, no? Any other tasty minnows out there for snacking once the G* financing is officially put to bed? Cheers, Thomas ABCN To Launch Laos Satellite Next Year June 16, 1999 BANGKOK, THAILAND, Newsbytes via NewsEdge Corporation : Asia Broadcasting and Communications Network (ABCN) has insisted that it will launch a satellite for Laos within the second quarter of next year. The company is also planning to do marketing, both in Thailand and abroad, for its satellite-via-cable television service to meet the country's plan to liberalize the telecommunications market. ABCN Monday announced that it still holds the L Star project, the plan to provide broadcasting services via satellite. The company is a joint venture between Thailand-based United Communication Industry Plc, IEC, Space System Loral, Japan's Itochu and Telesat from Canada. Jarerat Pingclasrai, ABCN president and CEO, said the company planned to recapitalize by more than US$200 million to shore up the present fund of $135 million. The money would be spent on launching the satellite within the first quarter of next year and to provide a satellite service within the second quarter of the same year. "The newly-injected funds will be spent on the satellite launch and reserved for operational costs over the next three years," Jarerat said. Recently, ABCN received a 110 million baht ($2.97 million) loan assisted by the Lao government to spend on building a satellite station in Vientiane. The Lao government owns 20 percent stake of the L Star project, while the majority is held by ABCN. The M Group, formerly the biggest shareholder in IEC, won a 30-year concession from the Lao government. However, the group withdrew from the joint venture following a cash crunch, allowing Ucom to take over the project. During the past year, ABCN has had to slow down its spending, due to the economic downturn and pending Ucom's debt restructuring plan. The two-year delay cost Ucom several million baht. Bunprasit Tangchaisuk, ABCN vice president, said that in the meantime, the company was also indulging in marketing in local and foreign markets in preparation for the liberalization of the telecommunications market in the future. "When the market is opened up, ABCN will ask for a cable TV license to provide pay-TV service in 15 countries around the region," said Bunprasit. ABCN is establishing a subsidiary, Advance Multimedia Centre (AMC), worth 1 billion baht ($27.03 million) to run an uplink-downlink satellite signal station at Laem Chabang in Chon Buri province. Bunprasit said ABCN was committed to launching two satellites. In the first phase, it will put up one ku-band satellite with 32 transponders. The satellite will cover 15 countries, ranging from Pakistan to South Korea and Malaysia and China. However, the company has yet to come up with a plan for the second phase. Bunprasit claimed the first satellite's capacity will be fully used within the first year because of growing demand in the region. Reported By Newsbytes.com, newsbytes.com (19990614/WIRES ASIA, TELECOM/) <<Newsbytes -- 06-14-99>> [Copyright 1999, NewsBytes]