Bangladesh and India on Thursday signed a deal of orbit frequency coordination for the South Asian Satellite which is meant for meeting of communication and meteorology necessities of South Asian countries.Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) Chairman Dr Shahjahan Mahmood and Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh Harsha Bardhan Shringla initialed the agreement for the orbital frequency of 48 degree east at BTRC office this afternoon.State minister for foreign affairs Shahriar Alam witnessed the ceremony as chief guest while foreign secretary Shahidul Haque and posts and telecommunication secretary Shyam Sundar Sikdar were also present.Speaking about the South Asian Satellite (SAS), Dr Shahjahan Mahmood said it will have 12 transponder and Bangladesh will get one dedicated transponder for own purpose.“We can use this transponder for any purpose we want,” he added.Mentioning that India will bear all the expenses of the SAS, BTRC Chairman, however, said: “Bangladesh has to bear the cost of equipment required for own purpose.”Bangladesh has decided to get on board with the South Asian Satellite although it is going to launch country’s first Bangabandhu-1 satellite in December this year.Shahjahan Mahmood said: “We’ve carefully evaluated that the SAS would not interfere in our Bangabandhu-1 satellite.”The idea of satellite for South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) was first put forward by Indian Prime Narendra Modi during the SAARC Summit in Nepal in November 2014.Indian High Commissioner said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has offered to launch the SAS as a ‘gift to India’s neighbors’ and “this is part of the Prime Minister’s ‘neighbor first’ foreign policy”.Mentioning that India is investing US$ 400 million for the SAS to promote regional cooperation, Harsha Bardhan Shringla offered India’s commitment and support to Bangladesh for the launch of not only the Bangabandhu-1 satellite but also future satellites.Replying to a query, he said the SAS is almost ready and would be lunched as soon as possible.Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, the Maldives and Nepal responded positively to the idea of SAARC satellite, but Pakistan and Afghanistan refused to join the consortium, halting the project.Later, the proposed SAARC satellite has been rebranded as the South Asian Satellite after Pakistan dropped out of the project.The satellite will design, build, launch and maintain for the benefit of participating countries to host applications in the areas of education, health and emergency communication. The benefits associated with participation in the project include tele-education, tele-medicine and inter-government networks, emergency communications for disaster situation, television broadcast and DTH TV services.Speaking on the occasion, Shahriar Alam said going beyond the conventional cooperation, Bangladesh and India have stepped into non-conventional areas especially high tech satellite to boost socioeconomic cooperation.He also termed today’s orbit frequency cooperation agreement as the message for other country and region for socioeconomic collaboration.State minister for posts and telecommunications Tarana Halim who is abroad in an audio message wished good luck for the SAS.The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) is entrusted with launching the satellite.The South Asian Satellite’s lifetime will be 12 years, with the ability to cover the SAARC region only with its 12 transponders, according to officials. One transponder is equivalent to 36 megahertz.Besides, the Bangabandhu-1 Satellite will have a capacity of 40 transponders and cover Indonesia and the Philippines as well as Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.Source: BSS