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VSNL to curb risk to 20 per cent in satphone ventures

"VSNL will limit its equity risk to 15-20 per cent in the total capital investment of such ventures," Kumar said about his company's strategy for the just opened global satellite telephone market in India.

T O D A Y

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VSNL has made an investment of $150 million in ICO Global Communications thereby becoming the second largest shareholder in the company.

With this, VSNL's investment has reached 7.98 per cent from the earlier 1.17 per cent, Kumar said.

VSNL has made this significant investment amounting to Rs 6 billion, surpassing major foreign companies such as Satellite Phone Japan, Korea Telecom, Mexico Telecom and Greek and UAE Telecom firms since India is expected to become an important market for ICO products and services.

Aimed at launching services within a year, ICO has signed an agreement with VSNL to set up a 'satellite access node', or SAN, at Chattarpur near Mehrauli.

ICO will invest more than $50 million in SAN to serve its global mobile communications in the region.

VSNL will benefit from the SAN by way of fees for handling traffic and charges from ICO for operating it.

Kumar said VSNL had not invested directly in the Iridium India project that is expected to be launched by the end of the year.

However, the company has set up a gateway for routing Iridium traffic to 66 low-Earth orbit satellites at a cost of Rs 500 million.

GUWAHATI: The Department of Telecommunication has initiated a pilot project of installing satellite based village public telephones, or VPTs, in the difficult terrain of the northeastern region where normal terrestrial technology like shared radio system, overhead and underground cable network cannot be provided.

Keeping in view the central government's decision to strengthen the telecommunication network in the Northeast, the DoT has taken up a comprehensive plan to commission satellite based VPTs at a number of remote and inaccessible places in the region, an official report said.

- Compiled from the Indian media and UNI

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