ha Earth Station

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4th Anniversary Souvenir 2008rf}yf] jflif{sf]T;j :dfl/sf @)^$

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Providing nationwide telecommunications serviceis a big challenge in Nepal due to its difficult terrain andwide geographical diversity. Very thin and distributedinhabitation and presence of high hills between onevillage and another in many places in the hilly regionhas added even more complexity. Hence use of any oneof the means such as Microwave, Optical Fiber or Satellite alone is not sufficient to achieve the goal.However, role of Satellite Communication technologywill remain dominant in Nepal, both in domestic as wellas international applications due to difficult terrain andlandlocked nature of this country.

Nepal Telecom (then Nepal TelecommunicationCorporation) established Sagarmatha Satellite EarthStation in 1982, as a section of International SystemManager’s Office (now International ServicesDepartment), starting its service with only six SCPCchannels for international communication. Later in 1985,TV receive facilities were added for providing news feedto Nepal Television. Using this video reception facility,World Cup football to was broadcasted by NepalTelevision for the first time. Since then this station is inoperation and has already completed its 25 years of successful operation.

This station was originally established for international applications alone. This was because the

satellite communication technology was not feasible for domestic applications then due to requirement of largeantenna size and expensive recurring space segmentcharges. Thanks to fast development in this technology,now communication via satellite has become possiblewith smaller earth station antennas and accordingly spacesegment charges have also become viable. Hence thistechnology has become an attractive means for providingquality communication service to most remote and

Sagarmatha Satellite Earth Station-AJourney of 25 Years

Babu Kaji Shakya,M.Sc. (Engg.)

Manager International Services Department

Lok R PaneruB.E., M.Tech. (Satcom)

 for Station Manager Sagarmatha Satellite Station, Balambu

difficult locations. Noting these facts, Sagarmatha stationwas opened for domestic applications in 1996 for firsttime. As of today this station is operating more than 3000direct circuits for International telephony and dataservices, and is also equipped with equipments for videonews service. Accordingly it is also providing VSATservices to more than 300 remote locations of the countryand is also providing satellite links to major cities for national trunking service.

Some of the milestones of this station are:ÿ Oct 1982– Standard B Earth Station (STH-01B)

Operational via INTELSAT 60°E Satellite.

Services started with 6 SCPC Circuits.

ÿ 1985 – TV Reception Service for Nepal TVÿ 1987- Upgradation of Earth Station facilities

with installation of:v IDR Systemv TV Equipment for Occasional Use TV

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4th Anniversary Souvenir 2008rf}yf] jflif{sf]T;j :dfl/sf @)^$

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Transmission/ Receptionv Digital Microwave Link between Earth

Station and International TelecomBuilding (ITB)

v Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS)System

ÿ 1989- Nepal Became 116th Member of INTELSAT

ÿ 1994 – Addition of IDR Equipment, Introductionof Digital Access Cross Connect System(DACCS) and Low Rate Encoders (LRE)

ÿ 1996 – Commissioning of Standard A EarthStation (STH-02A)

ÿ 1996 – Implementation of VSAT System (NECVSAT system for 7 Locations)

ÿ 1997 - Introduction of Digital CircuitMultiplication Equipment (DCME)

ÿ

2000 – Implementation of Regional SatelliteTrunk (RSAT) System (STH-03B Antenna)ÿ 2001 – Provisioning of TV Up-linking Services

for Nepal TVÿ 2001 - Digitalization of Occasional Use TV

Transmission/Reception Systemÿ 2002 - Implementation of new VSAT Systemÿ 2004 – Introduction of TCM/IDR Servicesÿ 2008- Implementation of DSAT, augmentation

of Frequency converter system and introductionof Turbo Code IDR modems (on-going)

Sagarmatha earth station, which started with only sixtelephone channels in 1982 for international applicationalone, has gone through large expansion during last 25

years. Today, this station is equipped with latest satelliteequipments so as to provide a good quality service toour valued customers for both domestic and Internationalapplications. The growth in domestic and internationalservices via Sagarmatha Earth Station is as follows:

a. International servicesThe details, as indicated below, show the growthin international circuit via Sagarmatha EarthStation during last twenty five years:

b. Domestic Servicesi. RSAT System

This system was conceived in order toprovide satellite connectivity to major cities so that connection from thesecities to capital city Kathmandu couldstill be maintained even in case of failure of main links such as microwaveor optical fiber. The details of RSATlinks are as follows:

S.No. Links Satellitecarrier size

1 Kathmandu-Biratnagar 2 Mbps

2 Kathmandu – Bhairahawa 2 Mbps

3 Kathmandu –Nepalgunj 2 Mbps

4 Kathmandu –Dhangadhi 2 Mbps

ii. VSAT system

Nepal telecom is using DAMA technology

in its VSAT system so as to achieve

economy in space segment charges. Thissystem comprises of 2 channel and 8

channel terminals for direct distribution of telephone lines. Currently VSAT telephone

service has been provided to more than 300

remote locations of the country.

Accordingly this VSAT system alsoconsists of equipments that could be usedto provide E1 connectivity to remoteexchanges. As of today, five remoteexchanges with 150 line capacity have beenprovided connectivity via VSAT.

Other than the services mentioned above, a new

system named as DSAT is currently in

implementation phase. This system is intended for 

providing satellite connectivity to various district

headquarters and remote locations for extension of 

GSM and CDMA mobile services. This service will

be in Ku-Band, first of its kind in Nepal Telecom in

SatCom applications, and will be carried via Sinosat

satellite.

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