Arabsat set to drop SSBC
January 22, 2020
By Chris Forrester
Arabsat is reportedly about to cut off South Sudan Broadcasting Corp (SSBC) from carriage on its satellite.
Reports allege that SSBC owes the Saudi Arabia-based satellite operator more than $2 million in fees for its satellite capacity and that SSBC is in “breach of its agreement” with Arabsat.
SSBC is carried on Arabsat’s BADR-4 craft. SSBC is based in Juba, in the breakaway South Sudan which achieved independence from the Republic of Sudan in 2011.
The debt from SSBC, a government-backed channel, is reportedly $2.157 million and covers the period from January 2019 and up to January 2020.
Arabsat’s head of finance told Eye Radio: “We are going to cut off the service because we didn’t receive their payment and we didn’t even receive a copy of transfer of money. They also didn’t send any letter to request for a duration such as two or three days,” said Suleiman Elshamri.
SSBC, in its response, says that its own Ministry of Finance is working on the payment.