China launched a telecommunications satellite on June 1 that aims to bring television signals to every home in the nation, on the 100th flight of the home-grown Long March rocket series, state press said.
The satellite was launched from the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre in south-west China's Sichuan province just after midnight Friday morning, China News Service reported.
The Sino-Sat III satellite will provide telecommunications, television broadcasting and digital transmission services to commercial and state enterprise clients, the report said.
The satellite had been originally slated to work with the Sino-Sat II telecommunications satellite that was launched in October last year but was rendered inoperable after its solar panels failed to deploy, it said.
A replacement for Sino-Sat II will take another three years to build, the report said, at which time China hopes to be able to send television signals to every home in the nation, including those in remote mountainous regions.
It was the 100th launch of the nation's Long March rocket series, the workhorse of China's space programme, which first flew into space in 1970, the report said.
The Long March rocket was built by the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, a key player in the nation's intercontinental ballistic missile programme.