Satelit Nusantara Tiga (SNT) and Thales Alenia Space, Joint Venture between Thales (67%) and Leonardo (33%), announced financial closing to fully develop the SATRIA program dedicated to reducing the digital divide over Indonesia. 

Thales Alenia Space, acting as prime contractor for this program, initially signed on July 2019 for a consortium led by the domestic satellite operator Pasifik Satelit Nusantara (PSN) on behalf of Indonesia’s Ministry of Communication and Information Technology (Kominfo), will deliver the High Throughput Satellite (HTS) based on its Spacebus NEO 200 full electric platform and fitted with a fifth-generation digital processor (5G). The company will also be in charge to provide two satellite control centers (main and backup), the telecommand and telemetry stations, and the ground mission segment linked to the fully processed payload.

About US$431 million of SATRIA’s funding package is debt, with the rest financed through equity. Korea Development Bank (KDB) committed US$126 million to the project whereas the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) has lent US$150 million.

The full Ka-band SATRIA satellite, to be positioned at 146°E, will carry more than 150 gigabits per second over the full Indonesian territory. Dedicated to narrow the digital divide, SATRIA has the ambition to connect around 145,000 areas including 90,000 schools, 40,000 hospitals and public buildings as well as regional government sites not linked by existing satellite or terrestrial infrastructure. The satellite will contribute to the digital infrastructure developments in Indonesia counting more than 17,500 islands.