"We are changing tack. We're thinking of either buying an existing satellite operation or entering into an alliance," SingTel chief operating officer Lim Toon told the Straits Times in Geneva, where the world's largest telecommunications exhibition and conference, Telecom 99 is being held.

"This way we won't have to worry about fighting for orbital space and all that," he said.

SingTel's first satellite venture, the 240-million-US-dollar ST-1, was launched in August 1998 under a 50-50 partnership with Chung Hwa Telecom of Taiwan.

SingTel has begun preliminary talks with regional satellite operators on its planned acquisition, Lim said, although he declined to give details.

Industry observers at Telecom 99 said SingTel would consider investing in satellite companies that could offer bandwidth for the Internet.

Among the possible candidates were APT Satellite Holdings, Intelsat subsidiary New Skies Satellite, and PT Satelindo, which is partly owned by Deutsche Telekom, they said.

Lim said ST1 was now providing bandwidth to Internet operators in countries like India, Nepal and Bangladesh, and would target Internet service providers in Hong Kong and the Philippines.

"When we commmissioned ST1, the broadcasting industry was booming. Things have changed since and now it's the Internet," he said.

"We therefore decided to switch our marketing efforts and have been selling satellite capacity to Internet companies in the region."

A report last month said the dominant carrier had cash reserves of 6.4 billion Singaporean dollars (3.8 billion US) which made it feasible to invest in a second satellite.

An increase in the demand for communications services was also expected with the improvement in the regional economic situation, observers said.

Copyright 1999 AFP. All rights reserved. The material on this page is provided by AFP and may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

SingTel - ST-1

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