Azerbaijan, Baku, 21 February / Trend corr S. Babayeva / Azerbaijan is negotiating with the large foreign companies about the leasing of a free orbital position for its communication satellite AzerSat, the Azerbaijani Communications & IT Minister Ali Abbasov said on 21 February.
"We can rent the other free orbital positions, without waiting for our own one," he said.
According to Abbasov, almost all the issues regarding attaining a license from the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) have been solved.
The ITU promised an orbital position for AzerSat during the World Conference on Radio Communications, which took place at the end of 2007. Azerbaijan takes the 5th place in the list, including almost 100 countries. ITU may offer an orbital position to Azerbaijan, as soon as, in the first half of 2008.
Initially, the project will be financed through the State funds. About 25% to 30% resources of the satellite will be used by Azerbaijan; the other part will be sold to countries which the satellite covers. The cost of the AzerSat project will amount to $80 - $100mln. The satellite covers Europe and some part of Asia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Iran.
The satellite may be launched in 2010, the Minister said.