Azerbaijan, Baku, 17 January / Trend corr S. Babayeva / If Azerbaijan receives an orbital position for its AzerSat communication satellite in 2008, the projecting of the satellite will begin the same year, the Azerbaijani Communications and IT Minister Ali Abbasov said.
The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) promised an orbital position for AzerSat during the World Conference on Radio Communications which took place at the end of 2007. Azerbaijan takes 5th place in the list which includes nearly 100 countries. ITU may offer Azerbaijan an orbital position as early as in the first half of 2008.
Initially, the project will be financed through the State funds. Some 25% to 30% resources of the satellite will be used by Azerbaijan; the other percentage will be sold to countries which the satellite covers. The cost of the AzerSat project will amount to $80 to $100mln.
The satellite covers Europe and part of Asia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Iran and may be launched in 2010, the Minister said.