Brazil: Steering Committee confirms choice of supplier of geostationary satellite

August 13, 2013

The Steering Committee of the project of geostationary satellite and defence strategic communications (SGDC), at a meeting held on 6 August, approved the companies Thales Alenia Space (TAS) for the supply of satellite and Arianespace for the launch. The three finalist proposals brought before the Committee were presented by Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, Space System/Loral and Thales Alenia Space.

Taken into consideration by the Executive Committee were the following analysis criteria: technical solution, schedule, risk, contractual conditions, conditions of absorption and transfer of technology and overall cost of the project. The Committee is composed of representatives of the Ministry of science, technology and innovation, Ministry of Communications and the Ministry of Defence.

The selection process conducted by Visiona, a company formed by Embraer and Telebras, lasted for about 12 months, followed strict standards applied internationally and was based strictly on meeting of technical, operational and economic parameters of the project, in addition to the application of absorption and transfer of technology set by the Brazilian Government.

"With the geostationary satellite, the Country will broaden access to internet broadband to the entire Brazilian territory and will have ensured the sovereignty in their strategic communications, both in civil and military area," says Caio Bonilha, President of Telebras. Currently, there are more than 2 thousand Brazilian municipalities with difficult access conditions for arrival of a fiber-optic network. They would be met through the satellite.

Nelson Salgado, President of Envisions, "the selection of these suppliers is an important step in the process of defining SGDC system, creating conditions for the contract between Visiona and Telebras is signed and the development work of the system can be effectively started." The terms and conditions of the contract between Visiona and Telebras will be released in due course, when their signature.