Oct 18, Colombo: Beginning a new era in communication Sri Lanka's first communication satellite will take to orbit on November 22 from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in China and it will be positioned over Sri Lanka.

At a media briefing yesterday, R. M. Manivannan, Chairman of SupremeSAT said the launch will take place around 9:30 p.m. local time and the satellite will be positioned above the country in the Geo-Stationary orbit at 87.5 degrees East in just seven minutes.

The satellite will be operational for commercial purposes in the region by early June 2013, he said.

Sri Lanka's Board of Investment (BOI) earlier this year entered into a partnership agreement with SupremeSAT (Pvt) Ltd. to launch its own communication satellite at a cost of US$ 320 million.

The total investment for the project is estimated at US$ 360 million which also included the construction of a satellite Content Management Station and a Space Academy in Kandy which is now in progress.

Sri Lanka will be the 45th country in the world to own a communication satellite and the third in South Asia. India and Pakistan have their own satellites.

SupremeSAT will make history by becoming the 27th private company in the world to own a satellite. The company is currently negotiating with the Maldives and Afghanistan to build satellites for them.

SupremeSAT has entered into an exclusive partnership agreement with China's State-owned China Great Wall Industry Corporation (CGWIC) for the design, manufacturing and launching of the satellite.