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

To: JGoren who wrote (6041)	5/6/1999 9:18:00 AM
From: brian h	Respond to of 10852

JGoren and all, Korea's Dacom Says It Won't Seek to Launch Another Satellite Seoul, May 6 (Bloomberg) -- Dacom Corp., South Korea's second-largest telephone company, said it canceled plans to launch a satellite of its own after the overnight launch of its first satellite failed. ''In the national interest, we will try to use Korea Telecom's Mugungwha satellite'' instead of launching a new satellite, Dacom President Kwak Chi Young said. His comment spells the end of Dacom's efforts to launch its own satellite to provide satellite broadcasting services in Korea, a plan that raised concern about overlapping investments. State-run Korea Telecom already launched two satellites so far and is preparing to launch a third in August. In February, the government's Broadcasting Reform Committee proposed to President Kim Dae Jung that Korea needs to consolidate its commercial satellite businesses in light of the country's economic slump. The committee pointed out that the U.K. has only one satellite company, British Sky Broadcasting Plc, which provides services to about 25 million households. South Korea has about 14 million households, according to Dacom. Dacom leased eight transponders on Orion 3 from Loral Space & Communications Ltd. for $89 million, of which it already paid Loral $35.5 million. Loral earlier said it will refund that money if the satellite isn't providing commercial service by June 30. Loral Chief Executive Bernard Schwartz said yesterday that the Orion 3 satellite appears to be a ''total loss'' and that he expects Loral to lose about $100 million in revenue this year as a result. Dacom officials said the failure will not affect the company's earnings, as the companies agreed that Loral ''shall unconditionally refund'' money paid for a failed launch, according to contract terms. Dacom expects that sharing a satellite with Korea Telecom will strengthen its position as a broadcasting company, while Korea Telecom focuses on satellite operation. Brian H.