By Humberto Márquez
CARACAS, Jan 30 1996 (IPS)

A total of 77 businesses in the Andean Pact nations formed an association to get the local satellite Simon Bolivar off the ground within the year, the Venezuelan business coordinator Roberto Smith said Tuesday.

“We are working on the feasibility study and a business plan, with the expectation that the system will go into action and get sales underway this year,” Smith, former transport and communications minister told IPS.

Meanwhile, telecommunications authorities from the Andean Pact countries (Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela) approved the general regulations for the satellite company in the Venezuelan Caribbean island of Margarita.

It will be a Multinational Andean Business (EMA), with national dealings in each of the subregional countries. “We offer them the best conditions,” Jose Soriano of the Venezuelan state Telecommunications Commission told IPS.

The new Latin American satellite will follow the Mexican Solidaridad and Morelos, the Brazilian Brasilsat and Argentine Nahuelsat, and until the machined specifically designed for the Andean needs is built, they will rent transponders from other systems.

Smith said they were looking into offers from French, Russian and the Multinational Intelsat and Panamsat satellite companies, as well as other Latin American systems.

The Mexican Solidaridad-I is a bit of a problem, as its orbit of 109.2 degrees longitude west “invades” Andean orbit-space granted the Andean nations in agreements with the International Telecommunications Union.

The Andean orbits are at 103, 106 and 109 degrees west, and technical advisers said Solidaridad-I could allegedly “cause interference.”

Smith said should the business decide to use a foreign satellite, “the authorisation of the governments is needed, as they have the political decisions in this matter.”

The Simon Bolivar, a hybrid (C and KU) satellite, will be built within the next two years with 50 transponders and a 12-year lifespan.

Its income will come from the sale of telephone, television, VSAT and other business services, with additional income to be made from selling transponders to neighbouring countries.

Smith confirmed that the five big subregional telephone companies were showing great interest, along with telecommunications, radio and television firms, end users (like the State Venezuelan Petroleum Company (PDVSA)) and independent investors.

This group will be submitted to a feasibility study with an international consultant, and a business plan that will be ready for the end of the month, said Smith.

He confirmed estimates according to which the Simon Bolivar requires investments of 300 million dollars for gross sales of 100 to 120 million dollars per year, and guaranteeing a 10 percent rate of return on the investment.

The scheme agreed by the Andean partners means that each country will initially have a limit of 20 percent of actions, but Smith said future capital flexibility was foreseen along with transferences which could increase each one’s rate.

Soriano pointed out that along with the features of the new company, the subregional authorities approved the technical and legal norms for its operation and control.

The Andean telecommunications companies have been dreaming of having their own satellite for 20 years, but the one big attempt under the “Condor” project in the eighties was shelved when economic crisis struck various local nations.

This project was resuscitated as “Simon Bolivar” when the government handed it over to the businesses concerned.

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