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Romania might have its own communications satellite
Romania might have its own communications satellite, to be launched in a maximum of 3-4 years, Minister for the Information Society Razvan Cotovelea said at a specialized conference on Thursday.
'As a premiere, I want to announce we are very seriously considering the drafting of a very clear plan in 2015, for Romania having within 3-4 years its own satellite, and using communications in this context. So we're talking about our satellite, with Radiocom [Romania's National Radio Communication Company] playing an important role,' he declared.
Cotovelea mentioned that a satellite would help Romania avoiding the high lease costs currently paid by the private companies for communication lines of other businesses.
'It's a satellite that could have all kinds of communications, from the special communications of the Ministry of National Defence, the specific communications of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the possibility of leasing bands, communication lines to any private business. Right now, we both - the private business and the state institutions - use communication services of various suppliers. On a national level, I have noticed these costs are very high compared to what we could have. The important thing is we could cut these costs to less than half. Thus, a very, very simple business plan demonstrates that the Romanian state would benefit over a 4-5-6-year period if it had its own satellite, allowing it to use its own communication lines,' the minister explained.
He also mentioned that companies in France, the United States or Russia could manufacture the equipment, at a price starting from 70-80 million euros, depending on the number of communication lines.
Cotovelea participated on Thursday in the 5th edition of the International Digital Forum conference organized in Bucharest by the Digital Communication Association (ACD).