COLOMBO: The US-based satellite communications provider, Intelsat, has shut down radio and television broadcasts of Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels, the government here said in a statement on Thursday.
Intelsat, the world's largest commercial satellite communications provider, has told Sri Lanka's mission in Washington that the service of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam was shut down over the weekend.
"Intelsat has terminated the 'unauthorised' use of one of its satellites, Intelsat12, by the LTTE for its TV and radio transmissions to Europe and Asia," the government statement said.
There was no word from the Tamil Tigers. However, last week they insisted that they were not using the satellite illegally.
Intelsat announced earlier this month that they were looking at ways of shutting down the LTTE transmissions.
Tigers, designated as foreign terrorist organisation in the US, were using Europe Star 1 satellite, renamed as Intelsat 12 or IS-12 since 2005, to reach Asia with their radio and TV broadcasts.
