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NTA shortlists five firms to study Nepal’s own satellite installation

KATHMANDU: The Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA) has shortlisted five companies for the study to establish Nepal’s own satellite in space.

NTA had earlier sought letter of intent (LoI) from international consultants for regulation and security of ground satellite installation, legal framework, working modality, business structure, technical requirements, and preparation of bid documents. Nine companies from different countries had submitted their letters of intent within the deadline of January 12.

The five shortlisted companies are Euro Consult, France, S3Tel Inc., Dubai, Space Partnership International, United States, Economics Limited of London, UK and KPMG Assurance and Consulting Services, India.

China’s Beijing Space Technology Company Limited, Britain’s Kispe Space Systems Limited’s JV Kispe Team, Singapore’s Celestial Consulting Service and Germany’s Space Tech Partner have dropped out of the study of Nepal’s satellite.

NTA has stated that technical and financial proposals will be sought from the shortlisted companies soon and one of the companies will be entrusted with the basic works related to the installation of satellite after analyzing their proposals.

However, the company selected in this way will not do the work of installing the satellite. It is mentioned that another company will be selected in the second phase. The selected company from this process will carry out ‘verification’ and monitoring of the works in the second phase of satellite installation.

The government has brought the Earth Satellite Policy, 2020 with the objective of launching Nepal’s own satellite. The policy approved by the cabinet meeting held on June 16 states that reliable and quality services will be provided from within the country by 2022 by setting up its own satellite in space.

According to NTA, the use of foreign satellites is also sensitive for the national security of the country.

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