The government of the Ekaterinburg region says it will provide companies with special assistance in obtaining export licences and quotas if they are participating in the international satellite project in the region. The regional government needs to find companies able to come up with a total investment of $9.4m. At the present time the project is a venture between the Ekaterinburg city telephone network, the Russian-US joint venture enterprise Mega Foratek Systems, the Ural information centre of the Informves company and the Hispanet SA enterprise of Spain. Hispanet is hoping to complete construction of the base station and start operating the station early next year. The project was due to start in May 1992 and will take 11 months to complete. The base station will feature an antenna of 50 feet in diameter and will provide direct international access for the Ural region.
