The Cabinet yesterday approved a proposal to move the Thaicom 2 satellite from its 78.5-degrees-east orbital slot to 50.5 degrees east in order to maintain the country's reservation right of the latter position.
Such a shift would extend the current right by two years until the end of 2012.
The Information and Communications Technology Ministry regards the 50.5-degrees-east slot as very important, as a satellite beaming data from that position can cover the Middle East and Africa. The country reserved the orbital slot a long time ago but has never used it.
According to International Telecommunication Union regulations, if a country does not use an orbital slot it has reserved for a certain period, other countries have the right to apply for it.
Thaicom 2, which will be de-orbited this year, has enough fuel to move to the new slot and there will be no cost involved in such a manoeuvre.