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Telkom taps SpaceX to launch its 11th satellite this month
The satellite will bring active transponders in C-band and Ku-band frequencies with a capacity of 32 gigabytes per second (Gbps).
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Heavenly coverage: People watch as a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from launch pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Florida, the United States, on Feb. 27, 2023. The rocket carried upgraded Starlink V2 Mini satellites to be deployed into an orbit of 370 kilometers. (AFP/Getty Images/Joe Raedle)
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elkomsat, a satellite service provider under the state-owned telco firm Telkom, is set to launch a high-throughput satellite (HTS) called Satelit Merah Putih 2 from Florida, the United States, on Tuesday.
The satellite will be launched using a Falcon 9 rocket from SpaceX, the company owned by tech billionaire Elon Musk. It will also become the 11th satellite that Telkom has launched to date.
“Today, the satellite has been prepared in Cape Canaveral in Florida and is ready to be launched soon,” said Ririek Adriansyah, Telkom’s president director, in a statement on Friday.
The satellite would bring an undisclosed number of active transponders in C-band and Ku-band frequencies with a capacity of 32 gigabytes per second (Gbps), which could provide an internet connection for the whole country.
Previously, Telkom launched the satellite’s predecessor Satelit Merah Putih in 2018 also using SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, carrying 60 active transponders in C-Band and Extended C-Band frequencies, which had the capacity to cover Indonesia and the Southeast Asia area.
According to Telkomsat’s president director Lukman Hakim Abd. Rauf, the firm had received demands from potential corporate customers and VSAT operators interested in using the satellite’s service, even before its launch.
“In choosing our partners [in manufacturing and launching the satellite], we have considered the lowest cost per Gbps, in order to build a satellite with a bigger capacity and a more competitive selling price for the service,” Lukman said.
