Text of report by Bangladeshi privately-owned, English-language newspaper The Daily Star on 16 September
Bangladesh will launch a satellite in the space with broadcasting facilities to make information and communication technology more available and upgrade to international standard. An inter-ministerial meeting was held in this regard at the conference room of the post and telecommunications ministry with its Minister Raziuddin Ahmed Raju in the chair. The meeting discussed technical aspects of launching the satellite, possible expenditure and various issues related to implementation of the project, said an official release.
Speaking at the meeting, the post and telecommunications minister said launching of the country’s own satellite is now the demand of the day to expedite implementation of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina government’s ‘digital programmes’. He stressed the need for quick implementation of the project and said that it would be implemented under public-private-partnership (PPP).
The concerned experts said the satellite project implementation will cost about 200 to 300 million US dollars and take about three years. The meeting stressed the need for formation of a national expert committee and taking steps for feasibility study for quick implementation of the project.
Post and Telecommunications Secretary Sunil Kanti Bose, BTRC Chairman Zia Ahmed, Additional Secretary of Home Ministry M Iqbal Khan Chowdhury, SPARSO Chairman Mujibur Rahman, Additional Secretary of Science and Information Technology Ministry Dilip Kumar and other officials concerned attended the meeting.
(Source: The Daily Star website, Dhaka, in English 16 Sep 10 via BBC Monitoring)
