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To: djane who wrote (5558)	3/23/1999 12:40:00 AM
From: djane	Respond to of 10852

Satellite launch lifts AsiaSat despite revenue setback technologypost.com Monday, March 22, 1999 TELECOMS PETER CHAN Asia Satellite Telecommunications (AsiaSat) yesterday admitted Star TV would contribute less revenue to the company following its migration from AsiaSat 1 to the newly launched AsiaSat 3S. But AsiaSat believes the new satellite's coverage and capacity will enable the company to reach more customers and reinforce its leading position in the industry. AsiaSat 3S, the company's fourth satellite, was launched by a Russian Proton rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The all-in launch cost was about US$195 million. AsiaSat 3s, a Hughes HS601HP model, carries 28 C-band and 16 Ku-band linearised transponders and will have a 15-year operational life. With a single C-band footprint, the new satellite covers 50 countries in Asia, the Middle East, Australasia and the Commonwealth of Independent States. The Ku-band coverage consists of two fixed beams covering South Asia and East Asia, as well as an in-orbit steerable beam. The new satellite will replace AsiaSat 1. AsiaSat chief executive Peter Jackson said Star TV, which rents 13 transponders on AsiaSat 1, would rent only seven transponders on the new satellite because the new transponders were twice as powerful as the old ones in terms of coverage. The switch by Star TV from analog to digital transmission also called for a smaller demand in transponder capacity. Mr Jackson would not say how the decline in revenue from Star TV - one of the company's largest revenue contributors - would affect the company's overall revenue levels but emphasised the new satellite would give AsiaSat more competitive edge to reach more customers. The immediate effect of the launch will be that the depreciation charges of AsiaSat 3S will start being taken against the company's bottom line from this year. Most of the customers in AsiaSat 1 - Star TV, Pakistan TV, China Central Television and private VSAT (very small aperture terminals) networks will migrate to AsiaSat 3S, making the new satellite's full capacity 30 per cent occupied at the outset. AsiaSat 1 - which was fully depreciated in the company's books - will not be sold immediately. However, it will be moved to a different orbital position to continue to provide more point-to-point transmission services. Copyright (c)1999. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All Rights Reserved.