3 May 1968

First satellite station in Southeast Asia opens

Thailand opened a communications satellite earth station at Tung Sukhla, in Si Racha district of this coastal province.

It was the first in Southeast Asia to offer communication via voice, television and data with an IntelSat II satellite, which was in orbit 22,300 miles above the Pacific Ocean.

The whole cost of building the 48-channel station was 120 million baht. It included a 30-metre antennae constructed by General Telephone and Electronics International Inc in New York. On May 9, news of Prime Minister Field Marshal Thanom Kittikachorn’s arrival at the White House became the first transpacific telecast from the US to a visiting leader’s home country.

3 May 1968

First satellite station in Southeast Asia opens

Thailand opened a communications satellite earth station at Tung Sukhla, in Si Racha district of this coastal province.

It was the first in Southeast Asia to offer communication via voice, television and data with an IntelSat II satellite, which was in orbit 22,300 miles above the Pacific Ocean.

The whole cost of building the 48-channel station was 120 million baht. It included a 30-metre antennae constructed by General Telephone and Electronics International Inc in New York. On May 9, news of Prime Minister Field Marshal Thanom Kittikachorn’s arrival at the White House became the first transpacific telecast from the US to a visiting leader’s home country.