Thai satellite operator Thaicom has announced the launch of its newest craft, the Thaicom 6.
The satellite was launched from Cape Canaveral this week by aerospace company SpaceX.
This marks the second successful SpaceX geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) delivery using the company's Falcon 9 launch vehicle.
Thaicom said it plans to use the satellite to provide higher-quality services to the broadcast industry. Thaicom 6 has 24 C-band transponders and 9 Ku-ban transponders, and the company has pre-booked over 60% of the craft's total capacity.
In other regional satellite news, Indonesian space agency Lapan has revealed that the nation's first home-grown satellite is ready to launch.
In a comprehensive interview with the Jakarta Globe, Lapan chief engineer Mohammad Mukhayadi detailed the development of the Lapan-A2 microsatellite.
This craft will act as an earth observation satellite, but the primary goal of the project was for Indonesia to develop the capabilities to build its own satellites.
In an attempt to stimulate Indonesia's lagging space industry, the Indonesian government recently passed new laws mandating Lapan to, among other things, develop satellite and rocket technology.
The Lapan-A2 will launch as a secondary payload on a rocket used to launch Indonesia's first dedicated astronomy satellite, Astrosat. As such, Lapan will have to wait until the Astrosat project is complete before it can be launched.