Five i suppose. Some slots were lost due to Pakistan not launching any satellites but applications were made for new more slots and were granted. I guess we currently have 5, will recheck and confirm
Found this.
Article I
The urgency to place its first satellite in the Geo-Stationary Orbit was realised in the middle of last year, by which time Pakistan had already lost four of its five allotted space slots. The five slots were allotted to Pakistan by ITU (International Telecommunication Union), way back in 1984, but the country failed to launch any satellite till 1995. That year Pakistan again applied for and received the five slots, but once again the government failed to put up a satellite in orbit, losing four of it slots in the process. According to officials, if Pakistan failed to launch its satellite by April 19, 2003, the country will loose its fifth and last 38-degree east slot, and the availability of these space slots is getting difficult every day.
Opinion
Article II
So a two-phase strategy was formulated –
Phase I would seek to acquire a suitable in-orbit working satellite which could be bought and relocated at 38oE longitude before 19 April 2003 and this would be a gap filler to protect the slot. Phase II would focus on designing a new satellite system with national needs in mind and orbited at the same slot before expiry of the interim satellite. For Phase I a foreign company was used – a contract was signed with Intelsat/PanAmSat (then Hughes Global Services) for leasing and relocation of their HGS-3 communication satellite for a period of 5 years and this was successfully relocated at the desired slot; and since Dec 2002 it operated as PAKSAT-1.
Phase II focused on indigenous development in cooperation with China through the China Great Wall Industry Corporation (April 2007) from whom satellite systems were procured with two ends in mind: technology transfer and acquisition as well as development of relevant infrastructure and facilities to develop indigenous capabilities. In Oct 2008 a commercial contract was signed for the manufacturing and launching of PAKSAT-1R between Pakistan and China with SUPARCO engineers and scientists going to work at the CGWIC’s premises. The GoP launched the National Space Programme 2040 which was reendorsed in the last NCA meeting (July 2011) and one finally saw a clear long term policy methodically being operationalised focusing on indigenous resources and system design. The payload for the PAKSAT-1R was indigenously designed by SUPARCO and this experimental payload has been developed by SUPARCO for technology validation in space for 15 years. As stated at the start of the briefing, this satellite has now been placed at 38oE longitude in the GSO with a service life of 15 years. It has been designed to have its coverage footprint over Pakistan, India, Afghanistan, Iran, the Gulf region, Iraq, South Asia, eastern coast of Africa, the Red Sea, parts of China, South Africa, Israel, Middle East, Poland, Germany, France and the UK.
http://str.com.pk/prid15.php
If Pak is serious it will need to re-apply for slots, i guess, and ensure that launches are done. This will be just the first. The faster slots are blocked the better it is.
