IntersputnikIntersputnik 45-years of record A achievements The Intersputnik International Organization of Space Communications (Intersputnik) was established in 1971 with nine member states. Headquartered in Moscow, today Intersputnik has 26 member states present in geographic Vadim Belov, Director General at locations from Central America to Southeast Asia, and from Intersputnik Europe to Africa. Its core business is satellite capacity leasing The Intersputnik International to telecommunications companies, broadcasters and corporate Organization of Space customers under contracts with satellite operators. Through its Communications (Intersputnik) was subsidiary Isatel, Intersputnik offers full-scale services including established in 1971 with nine the installation and operation of satellite telecommunications member states. Headquartered in Moscow, today Intersputnik has 26 networks. Amy Saunders spoke with Vadim Belov, Director member states present in General at Intersputnik to find out more about the organization’s geographic locations from Central achievements in its 45 years of operations, and its plans for the America to Southeast Asia, and from Europe to Africa. Its core future. business is satellite capacity leasing to telecommunications Question: Intersputnik is celebrating least parity, not only in the military field, companies, broadcasters and its 45th anniversary in 2016: What but also from the viewpoint of scientific corporate customers under milestones have been achieved and technological progress. contracts with satellite operators. along the way? At that time, the international Through its subsidiary Isatel, Vadim Belov: Intersputnik has satellite community was taking its first Intersputnik offers full-scale achieved several milestones in its steps. The foundations of that services including the installation history. Our organization was founded community were laid by Intelsat, an and operation of satellite in 1971 by nine countries of the socialist international satellite organization that telecommunications networks. bloc on the initiative of the Soviet Union. came into being under the aegis of the Its tasks were first and foremost United States. Therefore, it was quite political, while technical goals remained predictable that Intersputnik would be in the background. In the conditions of established as a sort of counterweight. the cold war and tough confrontation However, one must admit that between the two blocs, it was important essentially this task was not to show, if not your own supremacy, at accomplished. Although Intelsat and Intersputnik used to have the same organizational and legal structure as international intergovernmental organizations, their operations were based on different principles: Intelsat was growing on a purely commercial basis and had four satellites in orbit already in 1967; Intersputnik was subsidized and allotted capacity on Soviet satellites free of charge, and later at a considerable discount. Still, even at that time, Intersputnik’s statutory documents allowed future commerc- ialization of the organization’s own or leased satellites. Intersputnik’s commercialization accelerated as a result of the events that Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission – on the joint use of occurred in the late 1980s and early Intersputnik’s frequency assignments 1990s, when the socialist bloc and then the Soviet Union fell apart. Few 26 www.satellite-evolution.com | November/December 2016 intersputnik.pmd 26 08/12/2016, 17:58 Intersputnik remember that in the early 90s the platform. It is the transponders in the breaking projects around the world. member countries of Intersputnik Russia beam on ABS-2 that are used Can you provide us with an example accumulated the required funds and for this purpose. of one of the recent innovative ordered two satellites in Russia. projects Intersputnik has partici- However, the lamentable situation in the Question: Intersputnik has acquired pated in with another satellite Soviet space industry, which was a significant quantity of orbital slots company? struggling for survival, did not make it and spectrum resources in recent Vadim Belov: Some time ago political possible for Intersputnik to procure its years. How will the organisation leaders in the People’s Republic of own satellite fleet. Intersputnik shifted make use of these going forwards? Bangladesh decided to deploy a its focus to leasing capacity, not only Vadim Belov: As I mentioned, since the national satellite telecommunications on Russian, but also on international early 1990s, Intersputnik has been system using the country’s own satellite. satellites. The funds that had been actively filing and internationally If funds are available, it is no problem raised were returned in full to the coordinating frequency assignment to to order a satellite and pay for its launch members of the organization. GEO networks. Today our organization to GEO. A much more serious problem In the last several years we have set has coordinated frequency assign- is the orbital location. It is this problem our sights on procuring our own space ments over virtually all geographic that Intersputnik helped solve by signing segment, a modest one to begin with, continents from 118°W to 164°E. The in early 2015 an agreement with the just several transponders on our availability of this spectrum resource national regulator – the Bangladesh partners’ satellites, but expandable to helped implement several strategically Telecommunications Regulatory a fleet. Thus, our organization is now important satellite projects. Our Commission – on the joint use of on the threshold of a qualitatively new spectrum resource is the foundation of Intersputnik’s frequency assignments at stage of its development. our long-term cooperation with Space- 119.1°E for the implementation of the Communication and ABS. The project. Question: What do you think has frequencies coordinated at 75°E made been the biggest market innovation it possible to deploy much capacity on Question: What can you tell us about in Intersputnik’s 45 years? the ABS-2 satellite for use under the Intersputnik’s subsidiary company, Vadim Belov: Probably, in the first MTS video broadcasting project I Isatel? What are its capabilities, and place, it is the decision to file frequency mentioned. Today, we are working on how will its new teleport, opened in assignments to our own geostationary several promising projects to use April 2016, complement its (GEO) satellite networks. According to Intersputnik’s coordinated spectrum activities? the rules of international law, the resource. We expect that these efforts Vadim Belov: Intersputnik’s core geostationary orbit is a common asset will consolidate our position in the Latin business is to make available satellite of mankind, and only sovereign states American market. telecommunications channels on have access to its use. International various satellites, and carry out joint intergovernmental organizations uniting Question: Intersputnik cooperates satellite projects using Intersputnik’s several states can also file orbital with many companies on ground- orbit and spectrum resource. Still, in the positions in their interests. In 1992, the Board of Intersputnik gave a green light to start working in this field, and we are still doing so. There is another market innovation I would like to mention. Some time ago, we agreed with our partner Asia Broadcast Satellite that ABS-2, a new satellite, would be operated in our orbital position at 75Å. When the satellite was being configured, we suggested that our partner add a high- power Ku-band beam to cover Russia. At that time, it was a risky step because the Russian direct-to-home (DTH) broadcasting market had already taken shape, the main players had been defined, and there were no indications that the market would expand or be redistributed. Still, our analysis and intuition did not fail us. Since last year, a project has been implemented under the aegis of MTS, one of Russia’s largest cellular operators, to install its own satellite digital video broadcasting Isatel teleport www.satellite-evolution.com | November/December 2016 27 intersputnik.pmd 27 08/12/2016, 17:58 Intersputnik mid-2000s we arrived at an obvious economic growth, make this region operators today, and how might they conclusion that in order to further grow exceptionally attractive from the point be tackled? and diversify our services, we needed of view of satellite service, data Vadim Belov: These challenges have to supplement our traditional business transmission, satellite television, and already emerged. They are related to of providing interested users with the elimination of digital inequality. the introduction of new technologies, A resources of various satellite systems The Middle East, Transcaucasia, like the new generation of high with value-added satellite services and Central Asia are also of great throughput satellites (HTS). Another directly on the ground. Considering that interest to us. There, the penetration of challenge may be non-GEO satellite our statutory documents did not provide satellite telecommunications remains systems. for such business, it was decided to relatively low, but in the course of Much is being said concerning this establish a separate company for this economic progress and considering the subject, and ambitious projects are purpose. This is how our subsidiary large population, one can expect that being announced one after another. Isatel came into being. demand for satellite