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ICO Global inks deal with VSNL

ICO Global Communications (India) Senior Vice-President and General Manager Bishnu D Pradhan has said the joint venture will be operational early next year.

T O D A Y

• The Windfall • Net access price to fall • ICO, VSNL ink deal • CITIL sharpens focus

"We are currently talking to a few cellular operators and hope to finalise agreements soon," he said.

ICO Global Communications, a global consortium floated by various international telecom companies, aims to provide satellite-based global mobile personal communications services.

The consortium, in which VSNL has a 7.8 per cent stake, hopes to start its services by 2000-end.

ICO Global Communications, which has opened a liaison office in the country, has signed an agreement with VSNL to establish an ICO satellite access node in India.

The SANs, which are linked by high-capacity fibre optic cables to route traffic around the world, provide the space-Earth interface for ICO's global network.

To be set up in New Delhi at an estimated cost of $60 million, the India SAN will be one of the 12 to be established worldwide. Expected to be operational by March next year, it will be the only one capable of in-orbit testing of satellites.

Besides, it will also perform tracking, telemetry and control routines. The SAN will be operated and maintained by VSNL.

The satellite tracking and testing will be done with the help of the Indian Space Research Organisation.

- Compiled from the Indian media

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