DHAKA - Bangladesh on Wednesday signed a $250 million deal with French-Italian firm Thales Alenia Space in Dhaka to build the country’s first communications satellite, officials said. Thales Alenia Space will build the satellite called Bangabandhu-1 for the Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (BTRC) to be launched into space in 2017. BTRC chairman Shahjahan Mahmud said the contract was worth 19.51 billion taka ($250 million).