Sri Lanka's first communication satellite will be taken to orbit on November 22, 2012 from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in China and it will be positioned over Sri Lanka. 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 Sri Lanka 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 satellite will be operational for commercial purposes in the region by early June 2013. 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.
