Islamabad, Jan 26: Pakistan on Saturday operationalised its first ever satellite Paksat-I, which was recently acquired from a US company. Terming the operationalisation as a "tremendous achievement", Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf who formally launched the distance education programme through the satellite said that his country planned to indigenously built a satellite which will be put into orbit within three years.
"We will put our own satellite in orbit in three years," he told a meeting here. We will unveil the power of technology to bring high quality education to all".

Musharraf said the lack of a Pakistani satellite in orbit was a "psychological barrier" that prevented it from achieving many of its targets. "However, now it has been removed with the launch of Paksat-I", he said.
He said the high cost of bandwidth prevented Pakistan from using the satellite technology for education and now with the costs expected to plummet, they could use it for commercial purposes. Bureau Report