Telesat seeks orbital space, offering two public channels
Doug Ashbury
Northern News Services
Yellowknife (Apr 18/01) - There's very little orbital real estate left above Canada and Telesat wants one of two slots being offered by the federal government.
To further its case, Telesat announced in Yellowknife last week if it gets the licence, it will make two channels on available for free to the federal government for public use in remote areas.
Telesat, the Canadian company which launched the world's first commercial communications satellite, the Anik A1, 29 years ago, said the two channels would provide better multi-media connections to up to 300 remote communities across Canada.
Under its plan, Telesat would design, build and launch two new satellites in 2003 and 2005 at a cost of about $1 billion.
"We would take two channels and make them available for public use," said Paul Bush, the company's corporate development vice-president.
In the North, these channels, also known as transponders, could be used for high-speed Internet access, tele-medicine, tele-education or tele-justice -- serving remote areas by opening a gateway for data to move back and forth.
Ray Wells, a NorthwesTel vice-president, said with additional bandwidth, advanced services could be expanded and improved, benefiting Northern Canadians.
The Canadian satellite communications market has been open to global competition for a year. Currently there are about 50 foreign satellites, mostly American, licensed to serve Canada. Telesat has two. The U.S. allocated all their orbital slots to U.S. companies.
"Orbital slots (governed internationally by the International Telecommunications Union) are the real estate of the satellite business. If that real estate is in the hands of the U.S. and the Europe, Canada is a secondary market to them," he said.
Industry Canada triggered the application process for one of the two slots last December.
When Industry Canada opens the last slot, Telesat plans to apply for it as well, Bush said.
"In my view, it's fundamental to the North. The development of this real estate will determine what type of services are available. In the North, there is no highway, it's a skyway."
Bush also is skeptical about a non-Canadian company's ability to provide services to the North.
"For a New York company to say they will figure it out, I don't believe them."
A U.S. company has also applied for the same orbital slot, said Bush.
Asked if Telesat's plan might mean access to more television channels North of 60, Bush said: "The CRTC licensed 240 channels last year. The short answer is probably yes (but) I see more multi-media, more Internet."
Bush expects a decision in the next three months.
About 75 per cent of Telesat's $300 million in annual revenue is from Canadian sources. According to material provided by Telesat, the firm's future growth depends on securing this orbital slot on offer. Telesat is wholly owned by Canadian telecommunications company BCE Inc.
