The launching schedule of the country's first commercial satellite, Bangabandhu-1, has been deferred for three months.
It will now be launched sometime in March next year instead of previousely set launch date of December 16 this year.
Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) chairman Dr Shahjahan Mahmood revealed the information on Wednesday.
"The first-ever satellite of Bangladesh was planned to be launched from Cape Carnival Launch Pad in Florida of the USA on the Victory Day. However, the launching process was postponed as Hurricane Irma caused a lot of damages in Florida in the early September," said Mahmood while talking to journalists at his office.
The construction processes of the satellite, have already been completed at the facility of Thales Alenia Space of Cannes and Toulouse in France, said the BTRC chairman.
It will be launched using vehicle -SpaceX and Falcon 9 -of United States from the Cape Carnival Launch Pad.
The Bangabandhu Satellite with a capacity of 1,600 megahertz will have 40 transponders and the physical equipment of the space capsule that measures the capacity. Half of the capacity will be reserved for the country while the rest will be rented out, said sources at the satellite project.
On October 21, 2015, The Cabinet Purchase Committee approved the project to buy the satellite system.
Later, BTRC signed a deal involving Tk 20 billion with Thales Alenia Space to construct the first-ever satellite project.
On September 9, 2016, an agreement of 157 million Euro (equivalent to Tk 14 billion) with Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) was signed for financing the project.
The construction work of two ground control stations for the satellite in Gazipur and Betbunia are going on in full swing.
According to UNB, Bangladesh is currently meeting its satellite connectivity demand through renting a bandwidth from foreign operators and the country has to pay Tk 14 million US dollars a year for it.
Once the project is implemented, it will help to save and earn foreign currency as the Bangabandhu Sattelite-1 will provide all kinds of telecommunications services, said BTRC source.
