NEW DELHI, JAN 28: The Cabinet Committee on Foreign Investment (CCFI) has approved the private satellite projects of Hindustan Technologies Pvt Ltd (HTPL) and Ispat Telecom.The official government spokesperson and Union information and broadcasting minister Pramod Mahajan told the press that the proposed satellite project of Hindustan Technologies named, Hindsat, is a Rs 1,080 crore project which HTPL plans to build in association with Alcatel Space of France. The project would have Rs 360 crore in equity and Rs 720 crore in debt.HTPL would hold 51 per cent equity in the project while, 25 per cent would be held by NRIs and 24 per cent by foreign investors. The foreign investors would include, HTPL's Singapore-based partner Sky Sat Holdings Pte Ltd. Further, Alcatel Space is also considering taking equity in the project.Hindsat under private Indian ownership and contract would be operated by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and is slated for launch in the first quarter of the year 2000.Antrix Corporation, ISRO's commercial wing, has agreed to act as the technical consultants for the project. It will also set up the ground control station and operate, maintain and manage Hindsat in orbit during its life-term of 14 years.The satellite will serve as a platform for telecom and television over the Indian subcontinent and an Indian space bridge. The project highlights Indian ownership and ISRO satellite management to satisfy India's security, cultural sensitivities and national interest as well as ambitious programme for the partial use of the satellite for rural telephony and spread of education and health care to villages through an economically feasible technology.Hindsat will have a large high power transponder capacity of commercially proven technology to suit applications in both C-band and Ku-band such as VSAT-networking, internet backbone, high speed data transfer, long distance trunking, DTH, satellite news gathering and satellite broadcasting.Ispat Telecom's singlegeo-stationary satellite that was cleared by CCFI is a Rs 3440 crore project ($800 million), which would have a debt-equity ratio of 3:2.The project would have 49 per cent foreign equity and would cater to wide range of services including telecommunication and broadcasting.
