The Assembly's decision was unanimous in its desire to restructure the organization in a manner which guarantees its continued commercial viability, while at the same time, maintains protection of those countries that rely on Intelsat as their lifeline communications link to the rest of the world.

The protection of lifeline users is embodied in the lifeline connectivity Obligation ("LCO") which establishes a mechanism, for those countries that are eligible, to continue to have capacity available on the Intelsat system for a period beyond privatization.

In addition to the LCO, the Assembly emphasized the importance of Intelsat's role in providing worldwide coverage and decided that the privatized Intelsat shall maintain the objective of providing global connectivity.

However, the most important factor behind the unanimous decision to privatize Intelsat was the desire to ensure its continued commercial success. In this regard, the Assembly decided that Intelsat should be restructured as a corporation with an optimal tax, regulatory and operational structure without privileges and immunities.

In recognition of the ambitious timetable established for privatization, the Assembly created a working group, the "Penang Working Party", to be composed of Intelsat member governments and shareholders, to expedite the work required to finalize the restructuring effort. The Working Party will work with Intelsat Management and the Board of Governors to develop final restructuring recommendations by 1 July 2000 for review by an extraordinary Assembly of Parties to be held in the fourth quarter 2000.

Mr. Conny Kullman, Intelsat's Chief Executive Officer and Director General, very pleased with the Assembly's actions, stated that, "We know we have a lot of work ahead of us. The Assembly's decisions mean that we can start to move rapidly and aggressively toward privatization. "I anticipate that the parallel efforts by our Board and the Working Party will help us achieve the goal of establishing the private New Intelsat by April 2001 as we have planned. This meeting was a resounding success for all of Intelsat's stakeholders and for customers around the world," added Kullman.

Intelsat owns and operates a global communications satellite system providing capacity for voice, video, corporate/private networks, and internet in more than 200 countries and territories

COMSAT Completes Global Service

Community
Email This Article
Comment On This Article

Related Links
Space

Memory Foam Mattress Review

SPACE MEDIA NETWORK PROMOTIONS Solar Energy Solutions Tempur-Pedic Mattress Comparison ... Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News

SPACEDAILY

Satellite Launch To Boost DTH In India
Calcutta, India (SPX) Dec 28, 2005
The successful launch Thursday of India's heaviest satellite from spaceport of Kourou in French Guyana may have boosted the country's space research efforts to yet another level, but it has also lifted the spirits of at least three Direct-To-Home televisions broadcasters, one of which has been waiting for years to launch its services in India.