American Hughes Company to launch satellite for United Arab Emirates soon

The Thuraya Company in the UAE and the American Hughes Company are expected to sign an agreement through which the latter will launch a satellite serving the UAE's telecommunication purposes.

The UAE company had declared earlier that the US company's proposal to implement the first phase of the agreement was accepted and that the two sides will discuss the details in a week. If the two sides do not reach an agreement, proposals from two other companies, Lockheed Martin and Aerospacial, will be studied.

Through this deal the US company will launch the first satellite for telecommunication purposes on the Indian Ocean by the year 2000, and the second satellite will be launched two years later. The satellite will provide telecommunications services for 49 countries in Asia, Europe and the Gulf region.