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Al-Ahram Weekly 2 - 8 September 1999 Issue No. 445 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 2 - 8 September 1999 Issue No. 445
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Focus Culture Features Profile Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Countdown to Nilesat 102
By Rehab SaadEgypt will launch its second media satellite, Nilesat 102, by the middle of the year 2000 from the Korou base in French Guyana, Latin America -- about two years after Nilesat 101 was put in orbit.
According to officials, the new satellite is being built at present in Toulouse, France, and construction will be completed by the end of this year. The satellite will then be transported to the base in Korou to be taken to outer space by a French Ariane 4 rocket next July or August.
"After the success of the manufacture and launching of the first satellite on 28 April 1998, and after we succeeded in marketing its channels, we came to the conclusion that there was a pressing need to have a second satellite," said Amin Bassiouni, board chairman of the Egyptian Company for Satellites Nilesat. He added that the broadcasts of Nilesat 101 are watched by about two million viewers in Egypt and across the region.
Bassiouni explained that out of 12 transponders, each carrying between six and seven TV channels on the first satellite, 11 have been rented out to Egyptian and non-Egyptian stations. "Thus we became in need of a second satellite to provide us with extra channels to rent, especially as we have many rent applications from various countries and companies," Bassiouni said.
He added that the new satellite will also provide reserve channels to be used in case of any technical failure of the channels on the first satellite.
Nilesat 102 will be placed in the same orbit as Nilesat 101, seven degrees south, and will thus cover the same area, extending from the Atlantic Ocean to the Arab Gulf, as well as some parts of Africa and southern Europe. "As a result, viewers will not need a new dish or receiver to receive the transmission of the new satellite," Bassiouni said.
According to Bassiouni, the second satellite will be equipped with an "additional antenna" that will carry transmission to new areas in Europe. "This will provide a greater opportunity for exchanging information and news with Europe," he explained.
Internet services will also be available through Nilesat 102. According to Nilesat officials, a new Egyptian Internet company will sign a contract with Nilesat in two months to provide Internet services via the satellite. "The use of the satellite will guarantee faster download, faster connection and faster browsing," Bassiouni said.
Bassiouni said that the second satellite is already being marketed worldwide. "We have many applications from various countries and stations. And we are about to sign contracts with new Lebanese channels and a number of European channels, including the BBC, TV5, two Italian channels, as well as Spanish and German channels. Egyptian TV will also have its own channels on the new satellite," Bassiouni declared.
Fortunately, the second satellite will be manufactured at the prices set in 1995. "In the contract that was signed with Matra Marconi Space Company in 1995 for the first satellite, it was stated that if we launched a second satellite within three years, the fees would be the same. So we had the concept of having a second one right from the beginning. Had we not done that, expenses would have been multiplied," he said.
Bassiouni noted that the first satellite cost about $170 million, whereas the second will cost $140 million. "Expenditure went down because about 10 per cent of the parts of the second satellite were manufactured during construction of the first," he said.
Like the first one, Nilesat 102 will use the latest available technology, including a digital compression system instead of the analogue one used by many other satellites. The digital system allows for more than one television channel to be compressed in the same transponder. "This digital system is the technology of the future and is bound to prevail, whereas the analogue system is becoming outmoded day by day," Bassiouni said.
The idea of launching an Egyptian media satellite dates back to the 1970s when the government saw that the use of satellites to serve the media was spreading worldwide. To be prepared, the government reserved an orbit in outer space in 1977 for future use.
In 1995, President Hosni Mubarak asked Information Minister Safwat El-Sherif to take the necessary steps for launching a satellite carrying the name of the Nile. After the necessary technical studies were made, a contract for building the satellite was signed between the Egyptian Radio and Television Union (ERTU) and Matra Marconi Space Company. The Ariane Company was chosen to launch the satellite.
In July 1996, the Egyptian Company for Satellites Nilesat was established to follow up on the satellite's construction, build the ground control stations, rent out transponders and channels and provide Egyptian engineers with the necessary training.
