39th session of the Intersputnik Board and 13th session of the Intersputnik Operations Committee
Moscow, Russia
November 15–16, 2011
On November 15, 2011 Intersputnik Members and Signatories met in Moscow on the invitation of the Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications of the Russian Federation for the joint XXXIX session of the Intersputnik Board and 13th meeting of the Operations Committee.
The joint session was timed to the 40th anniversary of the establishment of Intersputnik. The opening ceremony of the joint session was attended by Deputy Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation Sergei Ivanov, Minister of Telecom and Mass Communications of Russia Igor Shchegolev, high-ranking officials of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation and the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In his welcoming remarks Mr. Ivanov pointed out that «it is hard to imagine our everyday life without satellite telecommunications, satellite television or broadband access to the Internet that is the services Intersputnik focuses on». Mr. Ivanov gave a high appraisal to Intersputnik’s contribution to the promotion of the products of Russia’s space industry on the global market".
Other participants included special representatives of the International Telecommunication Union and the United Nations Office in Vienna as well as chief executives of major international companies — satellite telecommunications operators. Letters of congratulations were received from the State Duma of the Russian Federation, Federation Council of the Russian Federation, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, deputy Secretary-General — Director-General of the UN Office in Vienna, Secretary-General of the International Telelecommunication Union, Director-General of the Regional Commonwealth in the Field of Communications, et al. On the occasion of Intersputnik’s 40th anniversary a state reception was given to the attendees on behalf of Director General Vadim Belov.
Mr. Gennady Kudryavtsev, advisor to the Minister of Telecom and Mass Communications of the Russian Federation, Representative of the Russian Federation on the Intersputnik Board was elected Board Chairman for the next term and chairman of the meeting.
The joint session of the Board and the Operations Committee reviewed a wide range of issues related to Intersputnik’s current business and development prospects. The Director General presented a detailed report on Intersputnik’s performance during the period under review. Also, the delegates discussed a report on the activity of the Operations Committee. The Board and the Operations Committee unanimously gave the Organization’s performance over the last year a high appraisal.
Special attention was paid to financial and economic aspects of Intersputnik’s business. The delegates reviewed and approved the report of the Audit Committee on the audit of Intersputnik’s financial and economic performance, the report on the fulfillment of the 2010 finance plan, financial projections for the 2011 and the finance plan for 2012. The Board and the Operations Committee elected new members of Intersputnik’s Audit.
The Board and the Operations Committee carefully analyzed issues related to the expansion of the Intersputnik international telecommunications system aimed at procuring Intersputnik’s own satellite resource based on new spacecraft and making maximum use of Intersputnik’s orbit and spectrum resource in cooperation with interested partners. The Board and the Operations Committee approved international satellite projects involving the use of Intersputnik’s orbit and spectrum resource and instructed the Directorate to take appropriate action to successfully complete these projects.
The joint session reviewed and approved a new version of the Intersputnik Operating Agreement, which took effect immediately.
An important event during the joint session were elections of the Chairperson of the Intersputnik Operations Committee. This position will be held for another three years by Mrs. Kseniya Drozdova, Deputy CEO of the Russian Satellite Communications Company, who has successfully performed these functions for the last three years.
On the invitation of the Office of Electronic Communications, the next joint session of the Board and the Operations Committee will be held in Cracow, Republic of Poland in April 2012.
About INTERSPUTNIK
Founded in 1971 under the Agreement on the Establishment of the Intersputnik International System and Organization of Space Communications, Intersputnik is an international intergovernmental organization headquartered in Moscow. The Organization’s mission is to contribute to the consolidation and expansion of economic, scientific, technological and cultural relations using satellite telecommunications, video and audio broadcasting and to support cooperation and coordination of the efforts of the Member Countries aimed at designing, procuring, operating and expanding an international satellite telecommunications system. Intersputnik can be joined by the Government of any state that shares the principles of Intersputnik’s activity. Today, the Organization has twenty five member Governments.
Intersputnik operates an international satellite telecommunications system and makes its geostationary orbit and frequency resource on 17 satellites available to telecommunications operators and corporate customers. Through its subsidiary Intersputnik Holding, Ltd. Intersputnik offers full-scale services related to the installation and operation of satellite communications networks.
Within the framework of its long-term cooperation with the Russian Satellite Communications Company, Intersputnik makes available to its users the resource of Express-series satellites. Intersputnik is the official distributor of satellite resource and services of the European satellite operator Eutelsat S.A., and the Asian operator Measat on Africasat-1, markets and sells Intelsat, SES and Gazprom Space Systems satellite capacity, and works together with other regional and domestic satellite telecommunications operators.
Using its intergovernmental organization status Intersputnik filed its own orbit and spectrum resource in 25 geostationary orbital positions. This resource is used under joint projects with interested partners to establish new satellite telecommunications systems. Today, such projects are in progress with Spacecom and Asia Broadcast Satellite.