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Two
New Satellites Proposed by Canadian Companies
A new Canadian
owned and controlled satellite company, Bird Satellite
Communications Inc., has been formed. The company wants to launch
two satellites which it says would end a Canadian communications
monopoly maintained by BCE Inc. subsidiary Telesat Canada. Bird
Satellite Communications expects to invest an estimated US$641
million (CAN$1 billion) in Canadian telecommunications
infrastructure. A government decision on Bird Satellite's
application is expected in three months. If the company’s
application is successful the first satellite would be launched
December 2003 with the second one by May 2005.
The venture is
funded by Richard Stursberg and other former Canadian Satellite
Communications (Cancom) executives and by National Bank Capital
Partners. Loral Space & Communications Ltd., which will offer
back-up satellite capacity in the event of technical failures, is a
minority partner.
Telesat
Canada has also proposed two new co-located high power broadband
communication satellites to be located at 118.7°W.
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