Egypt successfully launches 1st telecom satellite

CAIRO - Egypt successfully launched its first telecommunications satellite from a space center in French Guiana in South America on Tuesday, Egypt's official Ahram online news website reported.

The decision to launch the Tiba 1 satellite on Tuesday came after intensive meetings between the French company Arianespace and a high-level Egyptian delegation at the launching base in the city of Kourou in French Guiana.

The French company briefed the Egyptian delegation on the latest in technical preparations for the launch platform after tests on the operating systems were completed.

Launched by an Ariane 5 rocket, Egypt's first telecom satellite was initially scheduled to be launched last Friday, but the launch was postponed due to a malfunction in the power supply to the launching platform.

It was then rescheduled to be launched on Monday before being postponed again for 24 hours.

Mohamed El-Qousy, head of the Egyptian Space Agency, said on Monday that the decision to postpone the launch was due to weather conditions and the wind.

Tiba 1, which will be owned and operated by the government of Egypt, will cover all of Egypt and provide telecommunication and internet services to remote and isolated areas. It will be operational within three months of the launch.

The satellite is a civil and government telecommunications satellite, developed by Thales Alenia Space and Airbus Defence and Space as co-prime contractors, with Thales Alenia Space acting as the consortium's lead partner.

Airbus Defence and Space supplied the platform and also assembled and tested the spacecraft. Thales Alenia Space designed and built the communications payload, which will provide broadband communications in Ka band.