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Cabinet okays formation of company to operate Satellite

The cabinet today approved a proposal for constitution of the Bangladesh Communication Satellite Company (BCSC) Limited to smoothly operate the country`s first-ever Bangabandhu Satellite-1.The approval came at the regular weekly cabinet meeting held at Bangladesh Secretariat with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.Briefing reporters after the meeting, Cabinet Secretary Mohammad Shafiul Alam said Bangladesh is going to join the Satellite Club very soon as the process for launching the country`s first-ever satellite named “Bangabandhu Satellite-1” has almost been completed.“The satellite will be launched into the space very soon, and to operate it, a decision to form a company has been made,” he said.Alam further said the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications placed the proposal for formation of the company following the suggestions of those who will locally operate the Bangabandhu Satellite-1.The cabinet secretary said the name of the company will be Bangladesh Communication Satellite Company (BCSC) Limited.“The company will be formed with the authorised capital of Tk 5,000 crore and it will have Tk 500 crore shares,” he said, adding the price of each share will be Tk 10.Alam said in the Memorandum of Article, a proposal has been made to form an 11-member committee for the company, and all of its members will be government employees.He said the post and telecommunications secretary and the managing director of the BCSC Ltd will act as the chairman and the member secretary of the company respectively.The other directors of the company will be the additional secretary of the ministry of post and telecommunications, representatives of the ministries of finance, information and defence and a representative of the Armed Forces Division, the chairman of SPARSO, the DG of Bangladesh Telecommunications Company Ltd and two other persons to be nominated by the government, Alam said.Source: BSS