China's VSAT (Using Very Small Aperture Terminal) satellite project to Iran has moved one step forward. All the equipment needed for the project had been packed early in January and later shipped to Iran. China will start installation and launch test run next month and the project will be put into operation in July.

The agreement on the project was signed between the Beijing Space Science and Engineering Shiji Satellite Technology Co., Ltd. and Iran's TA company last August, in which the Chinese company agrees to supply equipment and service involved in the VSAT project to Iran's oil company.

This is the first time that China ever exports a telecommunications project to another country. The US$500,000 project allows the Beijing Space Science and Engineering Shiji Satellite Technology Company to provide voice, data and video transfer service for the Iranian oil company along its crude oil pipelines in the country's 15 provinces. The whole project includes one main station and 15 sub-stations.

In January this year, the Beijing Space Science and Engineering Shiji Satellite Technology Company packed all the equipment and printing materials needed for the project, and the equipment later passed the test held by Iran. At the same time, China invited people from the Iran's oil company and TA company to come to China for equipment testing and for training. The Beijing Space Science and Engineering Shiji Satellite Technology will send its workers to Iran to do the installation early next month and the whole project will be handed over to Iran in July according to the schedule agreed upon.

Wang Xuedong, director of the satellite and telecommunications department of the Beijing Space Science and Engineering Shiji Satellite Technology Company, said that the Iranian oil company had already talked with them about the project's further expansion. Meanwhile, her company is also holding talks with Iran's natural gas company about the project cooperation.

VSAT is a satellite telecommunication system mode. The mode is easy to set up and can be functional in places with complicated geographical conditions, where other telecommunications modes will not work. VSAT has been used by the China Mobile company for its telecommunication network in China's vast remote areas. It is also used for emergency and disaster relief in the telecommunication field. The general manager of the Beijing Space Science and Engineering Shiji Satellite Technology Company Sun He says China currently has 21,000 administrative villages and 270,000 natural villages without telephone connection. As China is pushing forward its telecommunication system to village level, and on the way toward making telecommunication accessible to every household in the countryside, the VSAT project will have a huge market in the future.

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