JAKARTA ~ Telecommunications firm  Indosat announced this week that it had appointed Thales Alenia Space France (TASF) to build and launch its latest telecommunications satellite, Palapa D.

In a statement, the company said the satellite would be launched in 2009 and have a service life of 15 years. It would replace its existing Palapa-C2 satellite, which is set to end its service life in 2011.

Indosat president Johnny Swandi Sjam said in the statement that the satellite would be provided to TV broadcasters, VSAT providers and other corporate customers.

Indosat would also use the new satellite as a backbone to support other services, such as cellular, fixed voice telecommunications and fixed data services.

The new satellite will have a larger capacity than its predecessor, with coverage extending to Indonesia, other Asian countries, the Middle East and Australia.

Indosat is 41.9-percent owned by Singapore’s ST Telemedia.