Azerbaijan prepares to launch telecommunication satelite

Azerbaijan will launch its first telecommunications satellite in early February, UPI reported, citing the country's information and communications technology minister.

ICT Minister Ali Abbasov made the announcement in Baku Monday, according to China's Xinhua News Agency.

The Azerspace-1 satellite has already been delivered to the launch site at the Kourou space center in French Guiana, Abbasov said, where it will be launched into orbit by an Ariane 5 ECA rocket.

The satellite has been leased from MEASAT Satellite Systems, a company owned by the government of Malaysia, and will offer telecommunication services to Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, Central Asia and North Africa.