On 11 September, the Pakistani government’s Central Development Working Party (CDWP) referred the PakSat-2 communications satellite program to the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) for consideration, following an earlier approval from 25 June, which granted in-principle approval and also recommended the project to ECNEC.
The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) received Pakistan’s filing in January 2025 for a satellite at 38° East in geostationary orbit (GEO). PakSat-2 would replace PakSat-1R at that position. Having launched in August 2011, PakSat-1R had passed its stated 15-year design-life milestone in August 2026.
In tandem with the PakSat-2 satellite, Pakistan also intends to upgrade existing ground control and operations centres in Lahore and Karachi. Pakistan’s filings with the ITU call for 4 GHz and 6 GHz (i.e., C-band) and Ku-band (i.e., 11-12 GHz and 14 GHz) coverage.
Currently, financing arrangements are undisclosed, but there is a clear precedent of Chinese lending through Pakistan’s recent satellite programs.
Replacing PakSat-1R and Increasing SATCOM Capacity
PakSat-1R’s payload consists of 12 C-band and 18 Ku-band transponders, with the satellite operating alongside the recently launched (May 2024) PakSat-MM1R, which is equipped with 48 transponders across C-, Ku-, and Ka-band. In addition, PakSat-MM1R also carries L-band satellite-based augmentation system (SBAS) transponders, which connect to a series of local ground monitoring stations and data processing centres in Pakistan to correct/improve BeiDou signals, thereby giving Pakistan access to more accurate satellite navigation/location services.
PakSat-MM1R could offer a reference point for how Pakistan will configure the PakSat-2. In this case, the immediate outcome would be additional bandwidth through a net increase in transponders.
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