The country has already lost four of the five slots originally allocated to it in 1984 by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), which regulates satellite-related matters worldwide.

Science and Technology Minister Atta-ur-Rehman told IPS that if Pakistan fails to have a satellite in Geo Stationary Orbit (GSO) by Apr. 19, 2003, it will lose its fifth - and last - slot located at 38 degree East. That will mean its presence in space, which officials also link to defence and security, would be doomed forever.

Thus, he said, Pakistan is acquiring Hughes Global Systems Satellite (HGS3) on lease for five years with an initial cost of around 4.5 million U.S. dollars.

Another 4.5 million dollars would be set aside for operation expenses, including the leasing of 34 transponders for the next five years.

By Dec. 23 this year, the satellite, now used by Turkey and named Anatolia 1, would be moved from Turkey's 50 East slot to Pakistan's 38 East location and thus allow Pakistan to use its allotted slot in the meantime.

At present, there are around 250 satellites in the GSO belonging to different countries and companies. Not much space is available for the new entrants.

Yet while Rehman stressed that the decision was motivated solely by commercial concerns, experts noted that having a satellite would also enable Pakistan to beef up its defence communications at the very least.

Air Vice Marshall Azhar Maud, chair of the National Telecommunications Corporation (NTC), himself said that a geo stationary satellite can be used to secure defence communication, act as a lookout for a missile attack and detect any nuclear detonation or explosion.

M Nasim Shah of the Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission(SUPARCO) said that the technology is vital for making the nuclear command and control mechanisms "credible".

Pakistan has nuclear weapons, as does neighbouring India, which already has a series of satellites in orbit. In recent months, Pakistan and India had been engaged in serious sabre-rattling over territorial and various other political disputes.

Shah, however, said that satellites could contribute to peace and stability by providing timely intelligence on one's adversary and by reducing suspicions of "warlike intentions". It can also provide early warning regarding potential threats.

A satellite designed to detect the launch of ballistic missiles bolsters deterrence by improving the likelihood that either side could retaliate effectively, he said. In addition, it can ensure that reliable links between countries would be available for crisis management.

Officials at the science and technology ministry, however, are insistent that the leased satellite would be used only for commercial purposes.

In an interview, Salman Ansari, advisor to the science ministry, called the leased satellite a "win-win" commercial venture for Pakistan since 38 East is a pivotal slot.

He pointed out that the satellite's footprints fall on the commercially hot markets of India, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Africa and Europe.

"We can very easily recover the cost of the present satellite as Pakistan's current total use of transponder is not more than four," said Ansari. "The remaining we can sell to other countries' telecommunication or broadcasting companies."

While inviting international tenders in February for the leased satellite, the ministry said that recent developments in Pakistan and in Afghanistan enhanced the market needs for additional satellite capacity over the region.

"The development of telecommunication, creation of backbone for trunking and TV broadcasts in Afghanistan require the satellite capacity to meet both short and long term needs," it said.

"Besides," said ministry officials, "oil-rich Central Asian republics would also be served well due to limited footprints of existing regional satellites."

Like India, Pakistan's satellite communication programme goes back to the early 80s when SUPARCO, in collaboration with Hughes, conducted a feasibility study defining the broad parametres of what was to be called PAKSAT.

The project's estimated cost was 400 million dollars. PAKSAT, however, remained on the drawing boards - that is, until officials realised that Pakistan was about to be shut out of the GSO system.

In the meantime, a Hong Kong company launched the Asia Sat 1 satellite in 1990, with footprints over the Asia Pacific region including many countries of South Asia.

Soon, the company introduced the Star TV (Satellite Television Asia Region) network, whose sports and entertainment channels had the whole region hooked. Other media companies tried to follow suit and launched their own regional channels, renting transponders on the AsiaSat 1 and other satellites to do so.

Pakistan's government-controlled TV channel PTV itself realised the importance of satellite. In 1992, it rented a transponder on the AsiaSat 1 and started beaming programmes to India and other parts of South Asia and Middle East.

To reach Europe and North America, it later rented a transponder at ThaiSat.

Such efforts, however, were no match to that of India, which by then was beaming a large number of its channels across the region and elsewhere. And as more than half a million dish antennas mushroomed atop houses, dozens of Indian channels and programmes were entertaining more and more Pakistanis.

Some Pakistanis viewed this as an Indian cultural onslaught, but it was only in late 90s that Islamabad made any move to keep out the so-called "Indian invasion".

The government started by regulating the cable companies. Then, in December, as ties sank to a new low after an attack on the Indian Parliament that Delhi blamed on Pakistan, Islamabad banned the transmission of Indian television channels into Pakistan.

Today, there are English and Urdu language channels are available. Among the broadcast newcomers are companies of offshore Pakistanis who have been allowed to telecast their programmes to Pakistan.

In March, the government also established the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA), setting the stage for new private TV and radio stations.

Official sources say that in the emerging broadcast environment, Pakistan desperately needs a communications satellite of its own. Indeed, Atta-ur-Rehman said it was because of the urgency of securing its last slot in space that Pakistan opted to get a used but cheapest available satellite on lease.

The plan is that while the leased satellite is in use, Pakistan would still be busy developing its own satellite.

Copyright 2002 IPS-Inter Press Service. All rights reserved. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by IPS-Inter Press Service. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of IPS-Inter Press Service.

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