Taiwan's leading telecom operator Chunghwa Telecom has launched its second commercial communications satellite in a joint venture with Singapore Telecommunications, local media said Saturday. The launch of the ST-2 satellite took place from the Kourou Space Centre in French Guiana late Friday local time, Taiwan's state-funded Central News Agency reported.
The satellite will have a life span of 15 years and will replace the ageing ST-1 satellite that Chunghwa Telecom and Singapore Telecommunications put into orbit in 1998, according to the agency. The two companies announced in 2008 that they had agreed to build the ST-2 to continue servicing existing customers and to facilitate expansion into international telecommunications markets. It will offer customers wider coverage in Asia and the Middle East when it reaches its orbit slot within the next 10 days, the news agency said.