PT Indosat has formally taken Thales Alenia Space France (TASF) as its partner for procurement and launching of a Palapa-D satellite to replace its Palapa-C2 satellite that will cease operating in 2011, Antara news agency reported. The contract for the cooperation was signed by Indosat president director Johnny Swandi Sjam and senior vice president for TASF Telecom Business Unit Olivier Badard in the presence of Communications and Information Minister Muhammad Nuh and representatives of the House of Representatives (DPR)`s Commission I. "Our plan to launch the Palapa-D satellite shows our commitment to give the best and continuous service to satellite subscribers mostly television broadcasters, VSAT providers and other corporations," Johny Swandi Sjam said. The new satellite is scheduled to be launched in the third quarter of 2009 and will have an operational life of 15 years. He said the satellite would be the backbone of Indosat`s other services such as cellular and fixed telephone services and a fixed data service.
