PM urges Royal Group to launch satellite
Prime Minister Hun Sen urged the influential tycoon at the head of the country’s biggest conglomerate to move forward on a long-stalled plan to launch Cambodia’s first satellite, adding that it would be a profitable venture given the high demand from the booming telecommunications industry. “It is time you partner with another company to launch a satellite for the benefit of our country,” he told Kith Meng, president and CEO of Royal Group, during the inauguration of the newly-built head office of the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications. He said the hefty investment in a communications satellite would not be lost, because “once the satellite is operational, telecom companies will rent the service and all [Cambodian] television broadcasters that use satellites will switch to using ours.” In April 2011, Royal Group unveiled a plan to launch Cambodia’s first satellite at a cost of $250 million to $400 million under a concession licence from the MPTC. The company initially planned to put the satellite in orbit by early 2013 to provide services for phone, television and multimedia customers.
