"Time flies amidst our unawareness. At a glimpse, AsiaSat has grown from a premature new borne baby to become an energetic youth with foresight and full of confidence. It was a joint venture formed by three renowned multinational stakeholders. 

Coincidentally, I was one of the pioneers in the start-up venture and had the privileges of participating in nursing AsiaSat particularly during its infancy stage.

As publicly known, AsiaSat 1 was a Hughes satellite launched by a Long March launch vehicle in China. However, the road to success of this amazing venture was not without obstacles particularly during the prelaunch period. After going through all the hurdles and uncertainties for critical issues such as the US export licence, launch insurance, launch vehicle readiness, and numerous restless nights, AsiaSat 1 was eventually successfully launched on 7 April 1990. From thereon, AsiaSat was on the way to become the most reliable commercial satellites of choice in Asia. A great achievement to be envied!

AsiaSat 1 was the first commercial satellite launched by a LM vehicle.  The success of the launch marked the beginning of a new era to provide all types of launches to all commercial satellite operators outside China.

As a matter of interest, guess who was the first customer on board AsiaSat 1? Few could hardly remember or come up with the right answer. To some surprise, it was Myanmar!"

— Ex-CFO of AsiaSat