Embraer to team up with Brazil telecoms in space plan

Brazil’s leading planemaker Embraer signed a shareholding agreement Tuesday with Telebras, the country’s state-owned telecom provider, to set up a joint venture to launch a communications satellite.

The two companies will form Visiona Tecnologia Espacial, with Embraer owning 51 percent of the capital and Telebras the remaining 49 percent, according to an Embraer statement.

The Brazilian Geosynchronous Satellite (GOES), expected to be launched in 2014, is to meet the communications and national security needs of the federal government, including the national broadband program, Embraer said.

The deal is line with a memorandum of understanding the two companies signed last November.

“This project is a historic step for advancing the technological and industrial readiness of Brazil’s space industry,” Embraer Presidenr Frederico Curado said.

Visiona’s head office will be located in Sao Jose dos Campos, in Sao Paulo state, will also become the leader of the Space Technology Development Center, in partnership with other key aerospace educational and research organizations.

Brazil’s state-owned Embratel launched the first South American communications satellite in 1985.

(c) 2012 AFP