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

To: Jeff Vayda who wrote (10242)	10/8/2002 8:03:34 AM
From: Jeff Vayda	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 10852

Shin Satellite Gets Loan Pledges of $390 Mln for New Satellite By Anuchit Nguyen (Price has inflated $40 mill since original announcement - which follows - It can be from launch costs, so I guess Loral is splitting the difference with the insurance folks. Jeff Vayda) Bangkok, Oct. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Shin Satellite Pcl, the Thai satellite operator controlled by Premier Thaksin Shinawatra's family, said foreign banks promised to loan it $390 million to fund a new satellite. Shin Satellite plans to borrow $184.5 million from the U.S. Export-Import Bank, $80.7 million from Coface SA of France and $125 million from a group of foreign banks such as BNP Paribas SA and Citibank NA, the company told the Thai stock exchange. The loans will pay for the construction and launch of iPSTAR, the company's fourth satellite. The orbiter, scheduled for launch next year, will be the world's first designed specially for high-speed Internet and video-on-demand service and will serve the area from India to Australia. Shin Satellite said last week it may use spare capacity from Singapore Telecommunications Ltd. and other rivals to start selling high-speed Internet services using iPSTAR technology before it launches the new satellite. hin Sat Signs Loral to Build iPSTAR Construction to commence on iPSTAR-1 satellite 2 August 2000 Nonthaburi - Shin Satellite Public Company Limited Executive Chairman Dr. Dumrong Kasemset today announced an agreement reached with Space Systems Loral of the United States to construct iPSTAR-1. The new satellite will be the fourth for Shin Satellite, but the first specifically designed by the company to deliver broadband communications and interactive broadcasting services. "We are very proud to announce this contract with Space Systems Loral as it marks a key milestone of the iPSTAR project," noted Dr. Kasemset. "Satellite construction should be completed within 2002 and delivered for launch by the end of the year," said Dr. Kasemset. "The estimated cost of the project is US$350 million, which includes the cost of the satellite, launch cost, insurance and gateways. The project will be financed 50% with export financing with the balance of system cost met by selling advanced capacity to national service operators (NSOs) who will in turn sell it to their customers." "We realized several years ago that the growing demand for data communications, driven by the Internet, was leading to a convergence of communications and broadcasting," said Dr. Kasemset. "We therefore decided to commence research and development in order to look at satellite design in a new way, one that would be tailored to meet the future demand for high bandwidth to support multimedia and interactive services." The first of a new generation of broadband satellites that will act both as an Internet backbone connection to fiber optic cables for ISPs and as a last-mile broadband Internet service to consumers, competing with coaxial cable and ADSL, iPSTAR-1 will have a total of 100 beams: 87 Ku-band spot beams, three Ku-band shaped beams and 10 Ka-band spot beams. It is scheduled to begin service in early 2003 and will remain in geostationary orbit at 120 degrees East for 12 years, serving the entire Asia Pacific region. "While iPSTAR-1 will be based on a Loral 1300S bus, it will be many times more efficient than conventional broadcast satellites. By using intensive frequency reuse as well as other proprietary technology, iPSTAR will have a total throughput capacity of 50 gigabits per second, almost 25 times the capacity of a conventional satellite," said Mr. Paiboon Panuwattanawong, Vice President for Advanced Satellite Systems at Shin Satellite, head of the iPSTAR project team. Space Systems/Loral, a subsidiary of Loral Space & Communications, is a premier designer, manufacturer, and integrator of powerful satellites and satellite systems. SS/L also provides a range of related services, including mission control operations and procurement of launch services. Based in Palo Alto, California, the company has an international base of commercial and governmental customers whose applications include broadband digital communications, wireless telephony, direct-to-home broadcast, environmental monitoring, and air traffic control. SS/L is ISO 9001 certified. For more information, visit www.ssloral.com

To: Jeff Vayda who wrote (10242)	10/8/2002 11:56:35 AM
From: ebg51	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 10852

Boeing sweetens the pot. I have been hearing from SS/L people for over a month that Boeing has taken Measat. According to SS/L employees, Boeing has offered to build & launch without payment until the bird is in orbit. Loral works on the milestone payment plan, because of cash-flow problems. Usual arrangement with loral is that customers pay so much along the way as milestones are reached. Boeing's deal is really sweet because it is no risk for Measat.