Long march towards a global telecom network [1]
Sunday, December 20, 1998 - 12:50. Updated on Wednesday, January 27, 2016 - 12:29.
From Matangi Tonga Magazine Vol. 13, no. 4, December 1998.
TongaSat resumes work on its vision for a trans-Pacific link between Asia and the USA.
The initial move by TongaSat into Mainland China to explore satellite related business changed direction when the King of Tonga gave Princess Pilolevu Tuita, TongaSat’s chairperson, a mandate to normalise the relationship between Tonga and the People’s Republic of China.
Tonga at the time had a long-standing diplomatic relationship with the Republic of China, Taiwan.
But now that the changeover had taken place, Princess Pilolevu said TongaSat was back in Mainland China trying to formalise a number deals with the Chinese.
Princess Pilolevu said that going into China was part of the company’s long term strategy for a global communications network. Tonga holds the rights to four orbital slots that cover the Asia-Pacific region, and TongaSat is looking at ways they can be developed. Their approach has been to meet with individuals rather than approach large companies “We wanted to explore the opportunities with the people behind the face of the ownership. To explore what can be accomplished if we have a regional system, in a sense that such a network can be provided if we can put people together on a joint venture basis.”
Pacific Islands
Princess Pilolevu said they were looking at how they could make the dream come true for the Pacific Islands to have their own communications satellite, and because China is a member of the Asia-Pacific region, they wanted to get them involved. “We are looking at how we are going to make a trans-Pacific link between Asia and the USA a reality. And that is what we are working on right now, and China is supporting us, because they want to play a role in communicating to the millions of Chinese people in the United States,” she said. TongaSat has access to four orbital slots that can be used for this purpose, the 170-75 degrees are the prime slots, but the 140 and 142 degrees slots can also be used.
Pilolevu said that to put a regional joint relationship venture into space is not an easy task, “because each of these countries already has its own. So we don’t go in and play powerful politics, we go in with the concept of a vision. We believe that if they look at it from our point of view, that there is a need to bring Asia and the Pacific closer. Europe is going on its own, and the United States is out on their own, so Asia-Pacific should be together.
“There should be a regional consortium, that is determined by the region. It belongs to the region. We want to develop something that will hold the highest and the latest in technology.”
Princess Pilolevu said that China has its own orbital slot, AsiaSat, which is owned by Hong Kong Telecom, “but what we are offering is a global connection, and they want to have communication with Africa, and Europe, they want to get into those two continents using our slots.”
Fibre optics
Princess Pilolevu said that China had invested heavily in fibre optics technology, a land line method for telecommunications, but just after they were laid the floods came, and now the Chinese realised that they had to develop satellite telecommunications. “China has a lot of isolated villages in the rural areas, and they are interested in upgrading their education system and are looking at a system to make connections to those remote areas. So their concern is for internal communications as well as to make connection to the outside world.”
The Princess said that one of the problems that Tongasat faces is a negative attitude from some Tongan government officials who do not trust her dealings with the Chinese. “They misguidedly believe that China is going to keep us knocking on their doors because China wants to take away our orbital slots. But we know for a fact that China is not the next one in line to any of our nine orbital slots if we have to forfeit them.”
Intersputnik
TongaSat is also making progress with Russian and American interests. They have just formed a relationship with Lockheed Martin Inter Sputnik through the new company structure that Tongsat have just set up with the Russian Inspace, called Panta. Two slots are involved in this, and two satellites are already on their way to those slots. Interim satellites because in two years time the main satellites which are currently being built will move in to those slots.
Princess Pilolevu said that Inter Sputnik was formed by 20 communist countries as their answer to Intelsat, “and Lockheed Martin, who is the biggest in the USA, holds the majority shares. Lockheed Martin Inter Sputnik has just reached a contract with PANTA, which included Inspace from Russia and TongaSat from Tonga, so we are pooling our resources. The more people involved, the better it is to secure the development of the global satellite communication network, which is Tonga’s vision. This is already developing and we are already into stage two.”