French-Italian firm steps in with cheaper bid for Bangabandhu Satellite-2

Bangladesh, following two memoranda of understanding (MoUs) with Russia and France over the past two years, has received a third financial and technical proposal from another European company for the Bangabandhu Satellite-2 project.

The new proposal, which arrived on Sunday, offers significantly lower costs compared to the previous offers, sources in the telecom ministry said.

Thales Alenia Space, a joint venture between the French technology corporation Thales Group and the Italian defence conglomerate Leonardo, has proposed to build Bangabandhu Satellite-2 at a cost of around $290 million, much lower than the 2022 proposal of $435 million from the Russian space firm Glavkosmos.

But due to western sanctions, Bangladesh was unable to proceed with the Russian firm.

French firm Airbus Defence and Space, which entered the scene in September last year following the first MoU with Russia in February 2022, offered to accomplish the project at a cost between $300 million and $400 million, according to two government officials who spoke with The Business Standard, seeking anonymity.

Thales Alenia Space in September last year submitted its expression of interest to continue working on Bangladesh's satellite journey that started with the 2018 launch of the country's maiden satellite, being used for communication.

Thales Alenia's French arm specialises in communication satellite technology, which was the contractor of Bangabandhu Satellite-1, while the Italian arm, which has an edge in the business of earth observation satellites, now eyes Bangabandhu Satellite-2.

Declining the request to disclose the financial details of the competing proposals by Airbus and Thales Alenia, citing their "procedural secrecy at the moment", Bangladesh Satellite Company Limited Chairman and CEO Shahjahan Mahmood told TBS, "We have received the proposal of Thales Alenia Space, Italy, recently, and the government, amid the intensified competition, will choose among them for the country's next satellite endeavour."

Following a thorough analysis of the technical and financial details of the proposals, the government is likely to go for a government-to-government (G2G) arrangement with the selected one this year, said the top executive of the state-owned company that also owns and operates Bangabandhu Satellite-1.

The Embassy of Italy in Dhaka, during the submission of the Thales Alenia Space proposal, also submitted a letter of interest from the Italian Export Credit Agency SACE to finance the project.

The agency lends for financing up to over 80% of the project costs at negotiated rates and for the tenure.

What Thales Alenia Space, Italy proposed?

The Thales Alenia Space technical proposal, upgraded from its 2023 expression of interest letter provisions, both seen by TBS, includes everything offered by Airbus.

For instance, a complete earth observation satellite constellation system consisting of one radar satellite and two optical satellites with ground segments, local capacity building programmes at industrial and academic levels, and early services such as access to existing satellite images until Bangladesh has its own earth observation system.

Also, a provision for small satellite assembly facilities in Bangladesh as an extension of the capability building programme has been added by the company.

Like Airbus, it will assemble cubicle satellites in a high-tech park in Bangladesh.  

Ground segments will be powered by Thales Artificial Intelligence system and protected by Thales Cyber Security standards.

The three satellites can be launched in 35 months and activate the full system in 39 months from kick-off, reveals the proposal.

Since Bangladesh is cloudy over a considerable period of the year, the radar satellite is necessary since optical satellites cannot see anything in the dark, said officials at the Bangladesh Satellite Company.

Earth observation

Unlike Bangabandhu Satellite-1, which is used by telecommunication and satellite television companies, Bangabandhu Satellite-2 will be used by the local authorities and agencies to keep monitoring the relevant earth surface.

For instance, the Bangladesh Navy and marine researchers could keep an eye on the vast sea at the Bay of Bengal, Shahjahan Mahmood said, adding that the departments related to forestry, agriculture, land, environment, urban planning, construction, and development would be using the national satellite to save the foreign currencies being spent every year now.