MOSCOW—Russian Communications Minister Leonid Reiman said the Arabic Thuraya satellite communications company is likely to get a license in Russia if it fulfills all the necessary requirements.
“I believe Thuraya will get a permission to work in Russia. It has to file a corresponding request, fulfil all the terms and receive a permission,” he said.
The minister said the Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE)-based carrier, which is represented in Russia by the TM-SAT Company, is running a new-generation technology as “commutation is carried out not on the ground, but onboard a space craft, which decreases the time for the transmission of the signal.”
However, that advantage turned out to be the main problem for Thuraya in Russia as it denied control to authorities over communications coming from turbulent areas, such as North Caucasus and Chechnya, in particular.
The Communications Ministry told Thuraya that it had to build a ground station in the country if it wanted to operate in Russia.
Although such a station is technically unnecessary, Thuraya had to accept the term. TM-SAT Director General Nikolai Prokhorov said talks on the construction of the station are close to completion, but did not name the contractor and the price. Russian experts estimate the cost at several dozen million U.S. dollars and believe the station can be built in 2002.
Thuraya currently has one satellite, which covers the Middle East, northern and central Africa, Transcaucasia and several former Soviet republics, including Ukraine. Moscow is so far outside the coverage area, but will be within it after Thuraya launches a second satellite this year.
In Ukraine, Thuraya launched test-commercial operations last year without the problems it encountered in Russia. The carrier signed cooperation agreements with Ukrainian Mobile Communications (UMC), Golden Telecom and Ukrainian RadioSystems cellular carriers, whose clients can now use the Thuraya-Ukraine satellite channel.
Thuraya said it plans to service 5,000 subscribers by September 2002 in Ukraine.
