MUMBAI: Asiasat 7, a new communications satellite of Asiasat was launched at Hong Kong on 26 November on an ILS Proton Breeze M launch vehicle from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

9 hours and 13 minutes after liftoff, Asiasat 7 successfully separated from the launch vehicle. Over the next few days, the satellite will arrive at the geostationary orbit, some 36,000 km above the Equator.

Asiasat president, CEO William Wade said, "We are extremely pleased that Asiasat 7 has successfully achieved this significant launch milestone. We greatly appreciate the efforts of our partners - International Launch Services, Khrunichev and Space Systems/Loral for their precision and professionalism in achieving this launch success."
 
"With Asiasat 7 successfully launched well ahead of the planned date for AsiaSat 3S‘s replacement, we can assure continuity of service to customers, while at the same time adding to our on-orbit capacity to service new business."

Asiasat 7 is a new generation satellite designed to replace AsiaSat 3S at the orbital location of 105.5 degrees East. Based on the Space Systems/Loral 1300 platform, AsiaSat 7 will support a broad range of applications for the Asia-Pacific region, including television broadcast and VSAT networks.

Asiasat 7 carries 28 C-band and 17 Ku-band transponders, and a Ka-band payload. Its region-wide high power C-band beam covers Asia, the Middle East, Australasia and Central Asia, with Ku-band beams serving East Asia, South Asia and a steerable Ku beam.