India has successfully readied a communications satellite which will be launched next year aboard an Arianespace rocket, an official from the Indian Space Research Organization said.
The craft, called Insat-3B, will relieve some of the overwhelming demand on India's domestic telecommunications system. It will serve both fixed and mobile phones.
According to Arianespace, the European launch consortium, the satellite has a tentative launch date of February 2000, and will be lofted into orbit aboard an Ariane 5 rocket.
While India has one of the largest telecommunications networks in Asia, demand for its services are expected to grossly outstrip supply in the next decade. The Indian Government says it will need to lay 64 million telephone lines by 2007 to meet projected demand.
Booming demand added urgency to the loss of one of Insat-3B's predecessors, Insat-2D, which was launched in June 1997 and became inoperable four months later.
"The demand on our domestic [network] was intense" after the failure, the ISRO official said in an interview on Friday. "We accelerated Insat-3B and put it on the fast track. Now we are ready."
India plans to launch two additional telecommunications satellites and two remote sensing satellites during the coming year.
Also, in March or April 2000, India will conduct the inaugural launch of its Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle, according to the ISRO official. India already operates its own sun-synchronous rocket, the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle.
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