Azerbaijan to launch first telecommunications satellite in February

BAKU, Jan. 21 (Xinhua) -- Azerbaijan will launch its first telecommunications satellite named Azerspace-1 in early February, the country's ICT Minister Ali Abbasov told media in Baku on Monday.

According to the minister, the satellite has already been delivered to the launch site at Kourou, the space center of French Guiana, where it will be sent into orbit by an Ariane 5 ECA rocket.

The satellite is leased from Malaysia's Measat Satellite Systems, a company owned by the government of Malaysia. Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, Central Asia and North Africa will be included in the Azerspace service area.

Produced by the American Orbital Sciences Corporation, the Azerbaijani Azerspace telecommunications satellite is designed to provide digital broadcasting, Internet access, data transmission, the creation of VSAT multiservice networks and governmental communications.

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