The telecom regulator has received positive responses from five companies that attended a pre-bid meeting yesterday for the construction of the country's first satellite.

Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC), the implementing agency for the Bangabandhu satellite project, was impressed with the responses from the companies that came from four countries.

Two companies from the US and one each from China, Canada and France attended the meeting.

In addition, three other companies from Japan, UK and Russia have expressed their interest to take part in the bidding to launch the commercial satellite, said ATM Monirul Alam, commissioner for spectrum management at BTRC. 

“We have signed a non-discloser agreement with the companies. So, we cannot disclose the names of the companies before the tender document selling date expires.”

Bidders have until June 2 to submit the tender documents.

BTRC has sold tender documents to the five companies for $5,000 each. 

After the joint pre-bid meeting, BTRC attended separate meetings with each of the five companies to discuss the Tk 2,967.95 crore project. 

Of the amount, Tk 1,652.44 crore will come from the bidder's financing and the government will provide the rest of the fund.  

The government is set to build the country's own satellite at 119.1 degree east longitude by June 2017.

However, Alam said they need more time to finally launch the satellite although the date was set for December 16, 2017.

“The project time needs to be extended for one more year as it requires close monitoring at least for six months after the launch.”

Currently, the country's demand for a satellite is met by renting bandwidth from different satellite operators, which cost almost $14 million a year, with the amount increasing progressively. This amount will be saved with the launch of the country's own satellite.

The satellite will narrow the digital divide as it will take broadcasting and telecom services to rural areas and introduce profitable and promising services, such as direct services to homes throughout the country, according to the Development Project Proposal.

BTRC signed a contract on January 15 with Intersputnik for taking their orbital slot at a price of $28 million.

After launching it, the satellite will be maintained by a company that needs to be formed, Alam said, adding that BTRC has also informed the five interested companies about this. 

BTRC has selected two locations for ground handling: Telecom Staff College in Gazipur and Betbunia Earth Station in Rangamati.

When launched, Bangabandhu will serve the Saarc countries, Indonesia, and the Philippines, as well as countries such as Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, if its frequency is properly coordinated.

The telecom regulator is optimistic that the project would take only seven years to break even.