40 years after Nepal found Earth orbit, it will now prepare for a satellite launch

Kanthamandu, 31st January 2021, Sunday

Four decades later, the Himalayan nation of Nepal has found its geostationary orbital slot. However, Nepal has also set a precedent for launching its own satellites into space. Now Nepal will be able to launch its own satellite. The Nepal Telecommunications Authority is preparing to launch its own satellites.

Launching its own satellites has saved Nepal crores of rupees. The NTA has already started preparing satellites for Nepal's communications, broadcast and aviation. The International Telecommunication Union took Nepal's orbital slot in 1984 but was not allowed to launch the satellite due to heavy traffic in orbit above the earth.

Now connectivity is increasing in Nepal. A new telecommunication policy is coming. For this, the government of Nepal had sought wages from the ITU in September last year to take their slots. Which they have now found. The NTA informed Min Prasad Ariyal in a newspaper that bids have now been invited from various companies. They have been asked to build and launch a geostationary satellite. We also drafted new regulatory rules in this regard.

India, China, the UK, France, Singapore, the UAE, and Germany have all agreed to the NTA's advice to the Nepalese government. "We will choose a country that has 50 per cent experience, 40 per cent competency and 10 per cent technical and economic capacity," Ariel said.

Which of these countries will be selected by the Government of Nepal. It will tell the NTA whether the satellite should be built or rented. At the same time, they will also state which solutions, which company or country is the best to build and launch a satellite by the year 2022.

Nepal's satellite project will cost about 35 billion Nepali rupees. In other words, it will cost Rs 2,190 crore in Indian rupees, but with their help, the Government of Nepal will save the bandwidth of its DDH satellite services and the rent of 50 other satellite telecommunication channels during the year. Nepal pays 250 million Nepalese rupees on DTH and satellite links every year, which is Rs 15.64 crore in Indian currency.

Geosynchronous Satellites Orbit is 36,000 kilometers above the Earth's equator. The satellite remains stationary in its orbit. The country that is the satellite, focuses on the country. The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) allows each country to deploy a satellite in geostationary orbit for its own satellite.

There are two radio satellite orbital slots in Nepal. 123.3 degrees east longitude for fixed satellite service and 50 degrees east for broadcast. This is the second time that the NTA has invited bids from other countries for its satellite program. In the first year of 2016, 12 countries applied, but the authority only found out when the country did not have a satellite, so it was canceled.