State-owned lender Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI) on Monday signed agreements with US satellite manufacturer Space Systems/Loral, LLC. (SSL) and French satellite launch services provider Arianespace to build and launch a satellite that BRI claims will help expand its service coverage.
The deals were signed by BRI president director Sofyan Basir, SSL senior vice president for programs and system David Bernstein and Arianespace senior vice president for sales and customer Jacques Breton.
President Susilo Bambang Yu-dhoyono, State-Owned Enterprises Minister Dahlan Iskan and Communications and Information Technology Minister Tifatul Sembiring attended the signing ceremony.
According to the agreement, the American company will be responsible for manufacturing the satellite, which will take around 24 months to complete.
Meanwhile, Arianespace will launch the satellite, to be named “BRIsat”, at a ceremony scheduled for June 2016 at the latest at Guiana Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana.
Bernstein said that with the deal, BRI would become the only bank in the world that owned and operated its own satellite.
The satellite will weigh about 3,500 kilograms at launch, be equipped with 45 transponders and will be able to cover Indonesia, other Southeast Asian countries, East Asia, Hawaii and the western part of Australia.
The 45 transponders, Sofyan said, would enable the satellite to support BRI’s operational expansion.
“At the moment, we use between 22 and 23 transponders from nine satellite service providers. As our business grows, we will require more transponders. By 2016, we estimate that we will need around 28 to 30 transponders,” he said.
Its latest financial and operational report reveals that BRI operates more than 9,800 offices and outlets and more than 104,000 electronic channels, such as automated teller machines, electronic data capture units and cash deposit machines.
The bank is looking to open 500 more branch offices to bring the total number to exceed 10,000.
As many as four of the 45 transponders will be allocated for the Indonesian government and the rest will be available for various purposes, according to Sofyan.
BRI hopes to obtain the Communications and Information Technology Ministry’s frequency license soon after the satellite is launched.
It has already obtained the ministry’s approval to become a satellite operator under the latter’s special category — under which non-telecommunications firms may apply for permits — and to operate the satellite in the 150.5 degrees east longitude orbital slot, which is being used by telecommunications firm Indosat.
Tifatul previously said the functional lifetime of Indosat’s satellite in that orbit was estimated to end in 2014.
By having its own satellite, BRI — now the most profitable lender in Indonesia — also expects to push down its information technology (IT) costs.
BRI currently spends around Rp 400 billion (US$34.58 million) to Rp 500 billion per year to finance its IT needs. The figure is estimated to climb to Rp 500 billion to Rp 600 billion next year.
“The satellite will take no more than $250 million in total costs, including for insurance, and we will be able to use it for at least 15 years. That way we can save a lot of money,” Sofyan said.
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