Maude Lebowski: [on answering machine] Jeffrey, this is Maude Lebowski. I need to see you. I’m the one who took your rug.
Younger Cop: Well. I guess we can close the books on that one.
– The Big Lebowski
The services of the INSAT-4A satellite were disrupted for over 30 minutes at 4 pm this afternoon (January 2, 2007) “due to solar disturbances“. A press release from the Indian Space and Research Organisation (ISRO) said the satellite “lost earth lock” when one of the momentum wheels used for stabilising it got switched off at around 4 pm.
“ISRO engineers at the Master Control Facility in Hassan (Karnataka) immediately took action to recover the earth lock and orient the satellite properly within half an hour”, following which the services were restored, the release said.
Designed, built and integrated by ISRO, the INSAT-4A is dedicated to telecommunications, with 12 Ku band and 12 C-band transponders including the following transponders:
- 12 Ku- band 36 MHz bandwidth Transponders employing 140 W TWTAs to provide an EIRP of 52 dBW over the footprint covering Indian main land.
- 12 C-band 36 MHz bandwidth transponders employing 63 W TWTA to provide an EIRP 39 dBW with expanded radiation patterns encompassing Indian geographical boundary, area beyond India in southeast region and in northwest regions and some parts of Asia Pacific and Gulf countries.
Tata Sky Ltd leases all 12 ku-band transponders on INSAT 4A. The transponders allow Tata Sky to transmit around 150 channels in digital quality to Indian homes including those even in the remote interiors.
Meanwhile, Asian companies say they have overcome problems with their communications networks a week after an earthquake off Taiwan damaged undersea fiber-optic cables in the region’s worst disruption to Internet traffic.
Hong Kong’s Office of the Telecommunications Authority said plans to repair one of at least eight cables damaged in the earthquake had to be delayed by a week after a ship sent to fix the cable broke down. The repairs will be completed by the middle of the month, compared with an earlier estimate of Jan. 9, the agency’s assistant director, Chan Tze-yee, said at a briefing. `We expect we’ll see the first cable repaired by the middle of this month, and the others should be repaired by the end of the month,” Chan said. The Hong Kong regulator’s forecasts matched the timeline by Chunghwa Telecom Co., Taiwan’s biggest phone company, last week.
Telecom operators such as Singapore Telecommunications Ltd. and Hong Kong’s PCCW Ltd. are using backup fiber-optic links and satellite systems to reroute Internet access.
Chunghwa Telecom estimates the repairs will cost about NT$50 million (US$1.5 million).
The Dec. 26 Taiwan quake, estimated between magnitude 6.7 and 7.1, caused damage on about 300 kilometers seabed, breaking six undersea cables from Hong Kong to Europe and North America
It should give them something to talk about at the 2007 Pacific Telecommunication Council conference (speakers, program schedule and exhibitors) in Honolulu, January 14-17.
A number of contenders, representing opposing consortiums are in a race to be the world’s first Asian-American high-speed superhighway. They include the Trans-Pacific Express (below), a consortium of Verizon Business with Asia consortium members Chunghwa Telecom, China Netcom, China Telecom, China Unicom and KT Corp.
Asia Netcom is also reportedly talking with an unnamed Indian carrier about a proposed link between the Philippines, Guam, Hawaii, the mainland U.S. and Japan. According to those reports, the company has already raised $800 million for the project.
Other groups on Verizon’s heels include AT&T, reported to be considering an alliance with the Telekom Malaysia-backed Asia-America Gateway – currently linking various ASEAN nations to the U.S.
Some experts say only one consortium will emerge because multiple high speed cables may flood capacity. Demand for a variety of high-capacity applications include IPTV, online gaming, and business process outsourcing. They will be enhanced by the 2008 Olympics in Beijing and the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai.
Related DailyWireless articles include; New China Transpacific Cable, Taiwan Earthquake Knocks Out Cables, Pacific Satellites Fail and Satellite Jam.
[...] It seems like everytime the Pacific Telecommunication Council meets in Hawaii, something goes dark. Last week it was the NRO’s L-21 launched just last month. [...]
Left by dailywireless.org » Chinese ASAT Tested? on January 18th, 2007