Bangabandhu satellite-2: War casts uncertainty over timely launch
The timely launching of the country's second satellite by a Russian company could face uncertainty amid sanctions imposed by the US and its allies to punish Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.
The Bangabandhu Satellite-2 project could face financial and technological hurdles.
In the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine on February 24, global payments messaging network SWIFT has asked Bangladesh's banks to suspend transactions with most Russian lenders.
The technological hurdle comes in the form of the US and its allies imposing a sanction on Russia's import of microchips.
"In the current situation, there could be an impact on launching the satellite within our targeted time," said Shahjahan Mahmood, chairman of the Bangladesh Satellite Company Ltd (BSCL).
The state-run BSCL, on February 2, signed a cooperation contract with Russian company Glavkosmos with the aim of launching the satellite by 2023.
Under the contract, Glavkosmos was tasked with manufacturing and launching the earth observation satellite for over $430 million.
"We are keeping this issue under observation. Since the entire scenario has not been totally revealed."
However, he said Moscow assured that the current crisis will have no impact on the project since most components are built by Russia internally.
Mustafa Jabbar, telecom minister, said they are evaluating the situation.
"After the evaluation, the decision will be made regarding the new satellite project. Besides, it is not only under my or my division's authority; it is a decision of the state.
"The project for the satellite is not a part of diplomacy; we are just taking a service from a company. So, national interest will be given the highest priority under the current situation," he added.
Economist Ahsan H Mansur said this project should be completely suspended.
"Making payments will be the challenge. If there is an embargo on the Russian company, then the local entities who deal with it would face sanctions," he added.
Even before the current crisis, Russia was unable to launch some satellites last year due to a lack of microchips that are on a list of restricted imports due to Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014, Bloomberg reported in June last year citing state-owned news service Tass.
And now, any chip developed with American technology is prohibited from being sold to Russia under US President Joe Biden's new embargo announced after the invasion.
The ruling Awami League, in its election manifesto in 2018, pledged to launch Bangabandhu Satellite-2 by 2023.
IS A 2ND SATELLITE NEEDED?
The BSCL launched Bangabandhu Satellite-1, Bangladesh's first geostationary communication satellite, under a Tk 2,765 crore project.
Of the amount, HSBC Bank supplied a big chunk while the rest came from the government.
According to BSCL Chairman Mahmood, some capacity of the first satellite still remains unutilised.
Asked what would be the application of the second satellite, he said the main function of the second satellite will be to observe different regions of Bangladesh from above, including monitoring floods, crops, and vast offshore areas.
Experts have said that a second satellite is a bad idea when the first one is not profitable.
"Despite the BSCL being a state-run company, it has not been publishing its annual report. We don't know its profit, loss, and how it maintains its debt service," said Abu Saeed Khan, a senior policy fellow at LIRNEasia.
The second satellite is an unnecessary big investment since image service from the observatory satellite can be availed from commercial satellite service providers such as Maxar and Planet, he added.
Sources said the cost for the second satellite project is around $430 million, much higher than the recommendation of the consultant appointed by the government.
Mahmood said the price is just an estimation, it will be finalised when they will be able to determine the specification of the satellite.