The launch of an Indian telecommunications satellite next year is set to make a "tremendous impact" on the country's business operations, according to the Indian space agency's satellite telecommunications director.

For a country that has trouble providing hassle-free domestic telephone service, the satellite will expand surprisingly high-technology communications options for Indian business and, to a lesser degree, private citizens.

The satellite, Insat 3-B, is tentatively scheduled to be launched by European aerospace conglomerate Arianespace in February 2000.

Those networks would supersede the government's traditional copper-wire system, which is both expensive and plagued with problems.

India set up its space program in 1972, though its first satellite was not launched until 1975. There have been 26 Indian satellites lifted to orbit, nine of which are communications satellites.

India is currently developing its own launch vehicle for communications satellites, called the Geosynchronous Launch Vehicle, and already has a booster to launch earth imaging satellites.

With current technology, businesses with branch offices throughout India must currently send company data through outmoded systems like telex, or expensive methods like faxing. The equivalent of a New York-Los Angeles telephone call can cost around $1.00 per minute in India, Dr. Rangarajan said.

Hindustan Lever, one of India's largest consumer goods companies, has used India's limited satellite capacity to set up their own private network using what is called VSAT technology. It has cut down the waiting time for sales data from 15 days to two days, according to Dr. Rangarajan.

It has also cut the cost of the data transmission tenfold, Dr. Rangarajan said.

India's current satellite capacity allows for only around 30 to 40 companies to have the capacity to develop VSAT networks. With the launch of Insat 3-B, however, the capacity will increase to nearly 600 companies.

And interest in the service has been immense. "Because of the success of such enterprises, what has happened is the demand is tremendous," Dr. Rangarajan said.

Supply of telecommunications services in India has been especially limited in the past few years since a previous satellite, Insat-2D, became inoperable four months after its June 1997 launch.

India has long had major problems with its long-monopolized telephone service. Rates are expensive and service unreliable. A recent endeavor to partly privatize the service has only met with limited success. One unintended result is that private companies find themselves wrapped up in regulatory hassles.

This has made private communications networks an attractive alternative to traditional copper-wire service for many businesses.

For a one-time fee, companies can set up their own communications networks that allow them to communicate nationwide, from the bustling city of Bombay to an isolated village in the eastern state of Orissa, at virtually no cost.

The launch of Insat 3-B will also be a boon to India's wireless telephone service. Text messaging, says Dr. Rangarajan, will allow Indian companies to have a cheap and easy way to send messages to branch offices and mobile fleets.

Also, the text messaging service could be picked up for personal use. Cellular phones are becoming an increasingly popular communications option among India's wealthy.

While the services afforded by Insat 3-B are primarily geared to Indian business, the Indian space agency says the satellite will provide better, cheaper products and services to the Indian public.

"Indirectly it will be the people's business," Dr. Rangarajan said.