Telkom Indonesia to launch third satellite this month

Telkom Indonesia plans to launch a third satellite in less than two weeks as part of efforts to reduce its dependence on foreign satellites.

The state-owned operator will launch the Telkom 3S from the Guiana Space Center on February 14. The satellite was constructed by Thales Alenia Space and will be launched abord Arianespace Europe’s Ariane 5 rocket.

Once operational the Telkom 3S will carry 24 C band, 8 extended C band and 10 Ku band transponders. The satellite will substitute for the Telkom 3, which failed to reach orbit in 2012, and will take the orbital slot of the current Telkom 2.

In turn the Telkom 2 will be moved to another orbit, and is expected to remain operational until 2021.

The Telkom 1 and Telkom 2 satellites have a combined 140 transponders, but according to the report, Telkom said at least 300 transponders are needed to serve the operator’s consumer and business customers. The new Telkom 3S will cut down on the satellite capacity the company needs to source from foreign satellites.