In the following interview, Shin Satellite President Nongluck Phinainitisart discusses her company's long relationship with Arianespace, as well as its outlook for the Asia marketplace.

Nongluck is an electrical engineering graduate of Thailand's most prestigious university, Chulalongkorn, and has degree in the same subject from the University of Missouri in the United States, as well as a doctorate from Chulalongkorn University.

She began her career with the Post and Telegraph Department of Thailand's Ministry of Transport and Telecommunications, and has worked in various management positions at Shin Satellite since 1991.

Question: How are the checkout and preparations for Thaicom 5 progressing since its accurate launch on May 27 by the Ariane 5 ECA?

Answer: Post-launch activities for Thaicom 5 have gone smoothly so far. Right now, we are in the middle of in-orbit testing and expect to be fully operational by mid-July.

Question: What are Shin Satellite's plans for the utilization of Thaicom 5, and how will this spacecraft's introduction affect the use of other satellites in Shin Satellite's fleet?

Answer: Thaicom 5 will be placed at our strategic orbital location of 78.5 degrees east, where we plan to expand our existing video platforms - especially in Southeast Asia and South Asia.

We have now over 200 video channels at this location, and we are confident of further growth in the future. Most of the existing traffic from Thaicom 3 will also be transferred to the new Thaicom 5 satellite. As for Thaicom 3, we will relocate it to the 50.5 degrees east orbital location.

Question: Shin Satellite's IPSTAR/Thaicom 4, which was launched by another Ariane 5 last August, is pioneering the introduction of consumer satellite broadband service in Asia. How do you see the broadband market developing in the regions served by Shin Satellite?

Answer: We see plenty of pent up demand for satellite broadband, and broadband in general, over all of Asia/Pacific, as most countries in the area aim to improve the effectiveness of their infrastructure, especially in rural and remote areas.

We are continuing to expand our IPSTAR Gateways to serve these areas, and we now have seven gateways operational in six countries. Our latest gateway in Beijing was opened in May, and we are excited to have the opportunity to provide IPSTAR services in China. IPSTAR provides nationwide coverage to 14 countries in the Asia-Pacific region and is able to serve up to approximately 3-5 million users.

Question: All of Shin Satellite's telecommunications spacecraft have been launched by Arianespace. What makes Shin Satellite a repeat customer of Arianespace?

Answer: When it comes to choosing our launcher, we have a vigorous procurement process, and Arianespace has consistently met our criteria and provided the most competitive package. Of course, one of the main criteria that we look for is reliability.

Question: In your post-launch speech at Europe's Spaceport, you said both Shin Satellite and Arianespace are acknowledged as industry innovators. How will Shin Satellite continue to innovate in the future to meet the evolving telecommunications needs of the Asian marketplace?

Answer: We believe that to stay ahead of the competitors, we must constantly innovate and, more importantly, provide innovative solutions to our customers.

For example, we were one of the first satellite operators to provide the DTH platform using MPEG-2/DVB on Ku-band transponders, paving way to pay-TV in the digital era.

Our next step is to introduce High Definition Television to this part of the region. This will employ MPEG-4/DVBS, and usher in a new era in high quality broadcasting via satellite.

It is also very important to envision today what the customer requirements will be in the future. Back in 1997, we initiated the IPSTAR satellite broadband program even when the word "broadband" was not main stream.

We saw the need for satellites to play an important role not only in just broadcasting, but also in providing efficient two-way IP communications nationwide.

In the future, we envision more interactive two-way multimedia, with the Internet playing a greater role in global communications and entertainment. And lastly, one must turn vision into reality! I believe that Arianespace has the same philosophy, as demonstrated by the success of the Ariane 5 launcher.

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