NCC knowing fully well that nothing good comes out of china blindly went ahead producing a satelite from there and now look at the result after spending millions of dollars. what a shame and i guess this has been the major reason of our GPRS network failures. read more here guys.   
  http://news.bbc.co.uk/nolpda/ukfs_news/hi/newsid_7726000/7726951.stm

Before NIGCOMSAT was launched some months back, didn't you have GPRS Network facilities?

I still can't help but laugh at a joke that says Nigeria has transferred her power generation problems into space

@mustay good then how come since the past of few days of shuting down the satelite gprs services has been so epliptic and unstable esp mtn nd zain even glo has joined and the 3G icon no longer appear anymore. and why it at this earlier time of its launch that its having a power failure, that is in future times of its use its gonna be nigerian method of repair repair management method.I guess this what curruption has done

to me the issue is more than gprs. it's about tax payer money that are being wasted every day and nothing is done about it.
what a waste about #40b wasted. God have mercy on Nigeria.

forget that,they also said the satelite is falling at high speed toward earth.So u better get ready for da worse.lool.

@Poster,

Nothing good comes out of China? The most hyped phone in history was made in China, guess what it is, the Apple iPhone. Actually, almost everything you use daily came out of China. So leave that out of the story. The problem is not the fact that it was made in China. The problem is with the management. Those behind the project are to be blamed.

Its a sad development. I even read in the BBC article that our 'SciTech Minister' said the satellite has been parked, to prevent it from spinning out of control. WOW, that's the most ridiculous statement I've heard. And coming from a Minister of Science and Tech? Double WOW!!!

Satellites in orbit move due to the earth's gravitational pull. The closer they are to the earth, the faster they spin around it. At just the right distance from the earth and with the right thrust, a satellite can be placed in a geo-stationary orbit, which is exactly the type of orbit NIGCOMSAT is on. Power failure or not, its meant to remain in place. So that makes the claim bogus.

According to the engineer that spoke with the BBC, "The satellite was limited because the type of frequency it used was disturbed by clouds in the atmosphere, and did not work properly in Nigeria's rainy season or during the Harmattan, when clouds of dust blow down from the Sahara"

What do you call that if not a failure from the very start.

They'v launched SAT2 and u guys r here debating SATCOM1.

For your information, the satellite is 5500kg in weight. Falling back to Nigeria a great speed. if happens to fall on your house, please do well to report to the nearest police station. Its a case of a missing satellite. thank you

I didn't hear anyone talk 'bout any satelite fallin. . . .

Nigeria: Country's N40 Billion Satellite Missing From Orbit. . . .

THISDAY gathered last night that with the satellite missing from orbit, the huge amount spent by the Nigerian government, about N40 billion may have gone down the drain.

The satellite was found to have run into a technical hitch for some weeks now, according to a source, when it was discovered that it was using a technological standard that was not meant for Africa but Asia.

The materials used in the building of the satellite by the Chinese that built it were said to have also been in question.

The solar panel was said to be faulty and not working. All this was being battled with while, the Managing Director of NigComSat, Ahmed Rufai, was said to be angling for the launch of the second satellite.

The contract for the NigComSat project which was signed on December 15, 2004 in Abuja between China Great Wall Industry Corporation and the National Space Research and Development Agency was said to have cost the Federal Government over N40 billion. China was awarded the deal after it outbid 21 international.

The cost of the satellite include items such as construction, insurance, value added tax as well as the price for building one ground control station in Abuja and a backup control station in Kashi, China.

The satellite has four gateways said to be located in South Africa, China, Italy and Northern Nigeria.

The satellite, which has a lifespan of 15 years, is being monitored and tracked by a ground station built in Abuja while the Chinese firm, Great Wall Industry Corporation, has a ground station in Kashgar, in northwest China 's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

It will be recalled that NigComSat which is 100 per cent owned by the Federal Government, was recently given a 15 per cent stake from the Federal Government's 49 per cent stake in NITEL.

Nigeria in May 2007 launched NigComSat into orbit with expectations of tremendous gains to the nation's telecoms sector.

The NigComSat is a super hybrid geo-stationary satellite designed to operate in Africa, parts of the Middle East and southern Europe and was expected to digitalise the Nigerian economy and promote technological advancement in Nigeria and Africa.

The expectation from many quarters was that NigComSat's carrier rocket, Long March 3-B, which blasted off from Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province and entered the orbit accurately on May 14, would set the stage for Nigeria to consolidate on its growing profile as the technological hub of Africa and an emerging player in the global terrain.

The satellite project was supposed to enable Internet access to even the remotest rural villages, a major quest of stakeholders in recent times. It was also expected to enhance government's economic reforms, particularly in the areas of e-learning, e-commerce, tele-medicine, tele-education, and rural telephony.

The project, according to experts, was expected to help African users save more than $900 million spent for telephony trunking and data transport services, $660 million in phone call charges and broadband access which is more than $95 million spent each year, as well as create more than 150, 000 jobs for Nigerians.

Rufai had before the launch disclosed that Nigeria would earn about $1.05billion which is N128billion yearly from NigComSat. A major part of the earnings was expected to come in from the sale and leasing of transponders from NigComSat.

Rufai had stated that each transponder, forty in all will be sold for between $60-70 million. NigComSat currently has forty transponders, with 28 active and 12 inactive.

However despite the huge expectations of Nigerians, NigComSat has not performed to expectations. Rufai at a recent media interaction agreed that NigComSat had not been able to capture the market principally because of the challenges it faced from the regulatory authority
Government sources confirmed to THISDAY the failure of the satellite in orbit. While admitting that the level the failure has gone is mindboggling, the source disclosed that the Federal Executive Council will meet today on the matter and issue a statement on how the failure will be addressed

Triple WOW!!!

Na wah 4u@naijafan

omo, you self no tire?

@najafan&boss It is a great mistake from the nigerian space management agencies and NCC having known to build a geosynchronous communication satelite from far away china without the meteorologistics of the african/nigeria atmospheric status which now resorted to the inefectiveness and damage of the so called satelite. Come to think about the said N40b spent on building the satelite' how are we sure its the actual money spent. côs china


has launched satelite for over morethan 30countries without hitches! that is why i said ealier that corruption is inclusive!

So what's the way forward?

I read today in The Guardian that the NCC are even foregoing the loss,they v actualy withheld steps into recovering the sat, U Know say december don reash,watin u xpect?

please fellow nairalanders how true is the unilorin 5000 list for 2008/09 session.because i score 70 an my name not on the list

just1n:

They'v launched SAT2 [/b]and u guys r here debating SATCOM1.

WHEN?
I saw on AIT News today which said dey r just starting talks on launching SAT2 & 3

fdigital:

[b]Come to think about the said N40b spent on building the satelite' how are we sure its the actual money spent. côs china

has launched satelite for over morethan 30countries without hitches! that is why i said ealier that corruption is inclusive!

wat do uexpect??--------of course d naija factor wil always set in na!!

But its Too bad for a country like nigeria that has made more than $2trillion from oil revenue for the past 30yrs but can't accoumt for it. too bad

Tis' is xactly what's goin' on. . . . . .
The federal govt didn't spend 40 bill. . . . . .they must hv spent less. . So inorder to get more money they crashed the satelite. .and decided to build and launch another. . . I just hope they come bk to their senses. . Hw the f.uck would they fore'go. . Somethin' like that. .

.

http://www.thenationonlineng.com/dynamicpage.asp?id=70823 And now the satelite is gone damaged unrepairable.And can u imagine the dismay on the federal Gov official meeting with a chinese delegation last week on the failed Nigeria communication satelite ,was told the earliest nigeria can have a new satelite presence in space will be sometime in 2010. . .does it now mean that all the firms and communication companies that uses the services fro m the said satelite will be paralyzed and have to wait till 2010. . . whaaat

China has robbed many nigerians with CHINA PHONES now the frederal government with CHINA SATELLITE 

China satellite

who's gona build the next ones?? Alaba or Aba??

a collabo of both. Alababa

Made in Aba, launched in Alaba

When the Nigcomsat was launched, I told an Indian friend of mine, "watch as MY COUNTRY'S IT would sky-rocket within 12 months" !


now, how wuld I face the dude?

dragnet:

China satellite

who's gona build the next ones?? Alaba or Aba??

here in naija we can make it only if we put our heads together and shun corruption

Who knows, maybe Niger-Delta militants vandalized the satellite. Lol. . .
Honestly, i didn't feel the impact of Nigcomsat in the first place. So its disappearance doesn't make any difference to me, in terms of telecommunication.

A Wonderful World

sect:

Honestly, i didn't feel the impact of Nigcomsat in the first place. So its disappearance doesn't make any difference to me, in terms of telecommunication.

even the present one on use what impact has created. . .