13 April

Vice President U Myint Swe attends fifth coord meeting on establishing satellite system

Vice President U Myint Swe, Chairman of the Leading committee on establishing satellite system attended the fifth coordination meeting of the committee at the Ministry of Transport and Communications in Nay Pyi Taw yesterday morning.

In his opening address the Vice President said this was the fifth coordination meeting of the committee and the 13-member committee led by the Vice President was setup by the Office of the President on 25 January 2017 to implement seven tasks on establishing a satellite system.

In the past four coordination meetings 19 decisions had been made of which 12 were implemented while 7 were under implementation. These 7 work processes under implementation required time and all need to cooperate toward setting up a deadline and completing them. Preparation to establishing a Space Agency and collection of Space Laws were the work processes requiring time and preparation to putting up an EOS (Earth Observation Micro-Satellite) was a priority work.

To support the leading committee and to implement the works quickly a work committee on establishing satellite system and four sub-committees were formed. The four sub-committees were Myanmar-owned satellite system technical sub-committee, Myanmar-owned satellite system legal affairs and rules sub-committee, Myanmar-owned satellite transponder leasing sub-committee and Myanmar-owned low-orbit satellite launching sub-committee.

Implementation of establishing own satellite system was being conducted in three steps. The first step was to lease other country’s satellite transponder and at the moment MyanmarSat-1 was being leased.

The second step was joint ownership and to implement this step, on 1 June 2018, the Ministry of Transport and Communications, Department of Information Technology and Cyber Security signed an agreement with Intelsat Global Sales & Marketing Limited. The amount required for the agreement was US$ 155.7 million of which 30 percent was paid in two installments in the 2018 six month budget. In fiscal year 2018-2019, 50 percent would be paid in four installments and in fiscal year 2019-2020 the remaining 20 percent would be paid in two installments.

The jointly owned MyanmarSat-2 would be launched in June 2019 and around mid-September 2019 it would be used with new technologies. Furthermore once the channels used on MyanmarSat-1 were transferred onto MyanmarSat-2, lease fee for MyanmarSat-1 would no longer need to be paid. In this satellite, Myanmar would use six 432 MHz C-band and six 432 MHZ Ku-band totaling 864 MHz. Relevant ministries were required to use the leased satellite channels efficiently and cost effectively in education, health and other sectors.

The third step was to launch a Myanmar wholly owned satellite. This step would be conducted when satellite channel usage increased, technological experience had been obtained and when we could control the satellite on our own. “Launching a wholly owned satellite is expensive and, as a priority, efforts will be made towards launching a less expensive Earth Observation Micro-Satellite” said the Vice President. Hokkaido University, Japan has proposed to launch such a satellite and the equipment and machineries to be installed on the satellite has already been designated it is learnt. Estimated cost need to be calculated and efforts must be made towards launching it as soon as possible.

Space Laws were to be collected and prepared to establish a Space Agency. Future work processes, sectors where preparations were required, matters for cooperation, difficulties faced and suggestions were to be openly discussed, said the Vice President.

Next, work committee chairman Union Minister for Transport and Communications U Thant Sin Maung explained about works conducted on establishing a satellite system.

Afterwards, Leading committee members Union Ministers Lt-Gen Sein Win, U Kyaw Tint Swe, U Ohn Win, Dr. Myo Thein Gyi, U Soe Win and U Kyaw Tin, Deputy Ministers Maj-Gen Aung Thu, U Tha Oo and U Win Maw Tun, sub-committees chair persons, members and officials explained, discussed and suggested on sector wise works conducted.

Vice President U Myint Swe gave comments and advice to ensure proper coordination and the meeting came to a close after he had given some closing remarks.

The meeting was attended by Chairman of the work committee on establishing satellite system Union Minister U Thant Sin Maung, Leading committee members Union Ministers Lt-Gen Sein Win, U Kyaw Tint Swe, U Ohn Win, Dr. Myo Thein Gyi, U Soe Win and U Kyaw Tin, Deputy Ministers Maj-Gen Aung Thu, U Tha Oo and U Win Maw Tun, Deputy Attorney General U Win Myint, Permanent Secretaries and officials.— MNA

(Translated by Zaw Min)