Kanboon Sompraingarm is one of several companies interested in the television broadcasting service offered through the Lao Sat-1 satellite and has signed an agreement to transmit the Lamkhong TV channel for one year.

They have also agreed to cooperate in distributing their satellite receivers. The Laosat HD satellite receivers will facilitate television broadcasting through DTH satellite communication where 60 television channels, including six Lao channels, are already housed.

The satellite receivers are also serving the many television programmes being broadcast from foreign countries including those channels produced in-country. 

Lao Asia-Pacific Satellite also recently signed agreements with AEK Group to provide Laosat HD satellite receivers in Laos.

Rental of a Laosat HD satellite receiver starts at 350,000 kip (Bt1,500) a year while 600,000 kip will cover two years.

After Lao Sat-1 was launched in 2015, its operations were trialled for two months before it officially began commercial services in March 2016. So far companies from Indonesia, Thailand, and China have signed agreements to rent space on the country’s first telecommunications satellite while others have expressed interest and will monitor the future operations of the satellite.

The satellite was designed, developed and delivered on-orbit by China. The project cost amounted to US$259 million (Bt9.1 billion) and the satellite is expected to have a lifespan of about 15 years.

It is designed to provide communication links for government work, television transmission and a range of other telecommunication applications in Laos.

A shareholders’ agreement to create the Lao Sat-1 Joint Venture Company was signed in Vientiane between the government and three Chinese developers.

The government holds a 45 per cent stake in the Lao Sat-1 Joint Venture Company, while APMT has a 35 per cent shareholding, SSTC 15 per cent and APST 5 per cent.

The satellite is helping drive Laos’ economy by providing Internet and television programmes, especially to families in more remote mountainous regions.

Source: http://ecard.nationmultimedia.com/news/business/aec/30308852