Dateline Asia
The Agila Satellite System
by Mark Long
Portions of this
article first appeared in the
March/April 2000 issue of Cable & Satellite Asia magazine
© copyright 2000 MLE INC. All Rights Reserved.
| The Mabuhay Philippines Satellite
Corporation (MPSC) was established in 1994 as the the result of the efforts of a
multinational joint venture composed of telecommunication and broadcast companies based in
the Philippines, Indonesia and China. The participants in this joint venture included the
Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT), High Rise Realty Development
Corporation, Pilipino Telephone Corp. (Piltel), Beijing High Den Enterprises Limited,
Walden Group of Companies, GMA Network Inc., Philippine Satellite Corporation (PSC), Cable
Entertainment Corporation (CEC), Siy Yap Group (SYG) and Philippine Communications
Satellite Corporation (PCSC). (Agila II photo right courtesy of Space Systems/Loral) |
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The company's Agila-II satellite system cost an estimated US$ 243 million to implement. Agila-II is a high-power communication spacecraft with a design based on the Space Systems/Loral FS-1300 satellite bus. This spacecraft had an electrical capacity of more than 9 kilowatts at launch and is expected to produce an estimated 8.2 kilowatts at its end of life (EOL). This makes it one of the most powerful communication satellites ever built and launched into space. Deployed to orbit by a Chinese Long March 3B rocket on 20 August 1997, Agila-II is expected to achieve a mission lifetime of more than 15 years.
Agila-II carries 30 C-Band transponders with 27 watt amplifiers and 24 Ku-band transponders with 110 watt amplifiers--more than enough capacity to relay 50,000 simultaneous two-way telephone conversations and 190 channels of digital TV programming.
The satellite's C-band coverage beam illuminates Bangladesh, China, the Hawaiian islands, India, Japan, Pakistan, The Philippines, and Southeast Asia, while the Ku-band coverage zone encompasses Taiwan, portions of mainland China and Vietnam, as well as the entire Philippines archipelago. The satellite's 24 Ku-band transponders may also be commanded by ground control to combine into 12 high-powered transponders with 220-watt amplifiers for the purpose of broadcasting direct-to-home digital TV services.
The spacecraft is presently located at 146 degrees east longitude. The Aguila satellite control and management facilities are located at the MPSC Space Center in the Subic Bay Freeport Zone.
Agila-II's C-band capacity is used by the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT) and Pilipino Telephone Corporation (Piltel) for additional trunk circuits, as well as for the relay of transpacific traffic. P.T. Pasifik Satelit Nusantara (PSN) of Indonesia also controls two C-band transponders on this satellite, which are primarily used to implement PSN's VSAT solutions for the region's business community.
Agila-II's C-band capacity also empowers personal and corporate users with sophisticated voice and data facilities that can even permit Internet access with downlink capabilities of up to 15 Mbps. Moreover, Filipino broadcasters such as ABS-CBN also use the satellite's C-band capacity for signal distribution and satellite news gathering activities.
Agila-II's Ku-band capacity delivers direct-to-home broadcast services to Filipinos in remote areas. This allows rural dish owers to receive high-quality programming previously available only to certain parts of the country via wire and cable facilities.
Manuel V. Pangilianan, CEO of the Mabuhay Philippines Satellite Corporation (MPSC), recently announced that MPSC is expecting to break even this year and begin showing a profit by the end of next year--good news for a company that has sustained a steady stream of losses since it began commercial operations back in January of 1998. Headed by a new management team, the company expects that increased demand for Internet services will fuel demand for satellite capacity in the years ahead.
The outlook was not nearly so rosy back in early 1998, when MPSC was forced to relocate its Agila-II satellite from its original orbital assignment. At that time, a spokesman for the Philippine-based satellite operator characterized the move as a voluntary effort to help allay concerns on the part of Space Communications Corporation (SCC) concering possible interference between Agila-II and SCC's Superbird-C satellite. Prior to Agila-II's relocation to 146 degrees East Longitude, both spacecraft had been located at the same orbital assignment of 144 degrees east longitude.
The International Telecommunication Union is the body of the United Nations that is charged with coordinating the registration of satellite frequencies and orbital locations on a worldwide basis. However, the ITU has no authority for resolving disputes when two different national administrations file for use of the same outer space resources. The lack of a governing body with enforcement powers in this area caused many satellite operators to file for more orbital positions than they actually needed. The more locations to which a satellite operator laid claim, the better its perceived bargaining position when it came time to negotiate a settlement with someone else fighting for their rightful place in the sky. In the end, however, the "paper satellites" only made everyone's situation more tenuous when it actually came time to launch a new spacecraft.
Agila-II and Superbird-C both carry Ku-band transponders that operate within the same frequency spectrum. This makes it virtually impossible for both satellites to share the same orbital location without causing interference to each other. Moreover, Agila-II's relocation did not entirely eliminate it as a potential source of interference to Superbird-C. The problem was finally resolved through a coordination agreement reached between the two satellite operators. This agreement undoubtedly includes some restrictions involving MPSC's operation of Agila-II's Ku-band payload that reduces the satellite's revenue generating abilities.
By 1998, the currency crisis which had swept through Southeast Asia in the fall of the previous year had also exacted its toll, forcing MPSC to suspended its plans to launch a new Agila-III communications satellite before the year 2000. The system planners initially envisioned that Agila-III would provide new regional services, while Agila-II would continue to serve the domestic Philippine market. If, as the management now anticipates, MPSC indeed turns the corner to new profits by next year we can expect a revival of the company's plans for a follow-on satellite to handle increased demand for multimedia services in the region.
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Last updated: 08/11/00