‘Largest’ communication satellite launched
`A Thai-owned communications satellite was launched early Thursday off French Guiana, officials said. Billed as the world’s largest, the satellite will provide Internet access and multimedia services for the Asia-Pacific region, Australia and New Zealand. [..]
The satellite, called Thaicom 4, will be operated by Shin Satellite, a company owned by the family of Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, and is the fourth satellite launched by the company. It weighs more than 7 tons and cost $400 million, and was built by Space Systems/Loral in Palo Alto, California
The satellite has bandwidth capacity of 45 gigabytes per second and will route data through 18 gateways.’
