NT starts building gateway station for OneWeb satellite network
The National Telecommunications (NT) Plc has started building a gateway station for the OneWeb satellite constellation in Ubon Ratchathani province, NT deputy managing director Somyos Thanapirunthorn said.
Somyos said the construction of the satellite gateway station would take about eight months and it would serve as a gateway for the OneWeb satellite broadband internet connection for Asean within the second quarter of next year.
OneWeb is a global communications network powered by a constellation of 648 low Earth orbit satellites. Headquartered in London, OneWeb enables high-speed, low latency connectivity for governments, businesses, and communities everywhere around the world.
Somyos said the gateway station is being built on a 40,000-square metre area inside the Sirindhorn satellite station in Ubon Ratchathani under the OneWeb Satellite Network Portal Site Hosting Services.
The construction will build 14 antenna bases along with equipment and facilities that are designed to provide complete ground station services for OneWeb satellites, Somyos said.
He added that OneWeb has so far sent 428, or 66 per cent, of its 648 satellites constellation into orbit and the remaining satellites are expected to be launched within this year.
Somyos said the Sirindhorn gateway will be one of more than 40 gateway stations of OneWeb around the world.
The gateway will uplink and downlink data to connect with the entire OneWeb satellite constellation to provide internet connectivity around the world, Somyos added.
The NT, which is a state firm formed from the merger of CAT Telecom and TOT, has been carrying telecom satellite businesses for over 50 years, Somyos added.
The NT has also been assigned by the government to operate Thaicom 4 and Thaicom 6 at the Nonthaburi satellite uplink station after the two satellites were returned as state properties at the end of the concession with Thaicom.
