Nigeria’s state-owned satellite operator, NigComSat Ltd, is exploring business opportunities in the Asian market and is currently meeting with senior executives of Thailand’s leading satellite operator, Thaicom, for possible collaboration.

A tweet by NigComSat announcing the meeting with their Thai counterpart did not disclose in details the scope of the business collaboration and what to expect from the meeting. However, the meeting is being facilitated by Nigeria’s Ambassador to Thailand, His Excellency, Mallam Ahmed Nuhu Bamalli, as part of a wider government initiative between the two nations to expand the range of their cooperation. 

The meeting focuses on jointly exploring business opportunities in the satellite communication sector of the Asian market and deepening bilateral cooperation between Nigeria and Thailand.

NigComSat is looking to leverage opportunities within and outside Africa as it is undergoing a repositioning in a rapidly competitive market. The company recently witnessed major board-level shake-off resulting in the appointment of a new Board Chairman and three other board members. The appointment, the Nigerian government say, is part of a process to fully commercialise and reposition the company over issues of underutilisation of its NigComSat-1R communications satellite and increasing year-on-year operational losses.

The Nigerian government has budgeted N3,473,046,717 (USD 9.54 million) as fiscal allocation from the country’s national budget to finance NigComSat operations in 2020, a slight dip from the N3.9 billion (10.7million) allocated to the company in 2019.

NigComSat, as earlier reported by Space in Africa,  is in talks with China over the procurement of additional satellites to expand its capacity.