NEW DELHI: The government today denied any shortage of capacity in transponders for communications, with minister of state in the prime minister’s office Prithviraj Chavan reiterating that a total of 199 transponders were available in the satellites already launched.

Answering a question in Parliament, he said ‘We can give transponders to anybody who wants - for TV or for communication services.”

 He added: ‘We hope to have a total capacity of about 500 transponders by the end of the 11th Plan. So, there will be no shortage of any communication satellite capability. We will launch about 12 new communication satellites in the 12th Plan. Currently we have nine communication satellites orbiting, which are providing services to everybody, and we have seven remote sensing satellites for imaging applications and earth observation applications.’