Turkey's new generation communication satellite "Turksat 3A" was launched in June from French Guiana.

Turksat Director-General Ozkan Dalbay said that former satellite Turksat 1C was replaced by the new Turksat 3A. Dalbay said several national and international TV channels and technology companies had asked Turksat to use Turkey's recent satellite.

"Four TV channels from Kazakhstan are eager to broadcast through Turksat 3A, and a Kazakh data transfer company made a demand too. We are still holding talks with them. But they requested a 10 percent of the capacity. It is impossible. We can only allocate a 4 percent for them because 75 percent capacity of Turksat 3A is full. This rate would reach 95 percent in October," Dalbay said.

Dalbay also said that Turksat started works for a new satellite, Turksat 4A, which is planned to cover north and central Africa.

"So, the coverage area of Turkish satellites will stretch out from eastern coast of the United States to China, and also from Arabian Peninsula to central Africa," he said.

Dalbay said Turksat plans to invite bids for Turksat 4A at the end of 2008 and launch the satellite in 2011.

Turksat also projects to build one more satellite within six years with 100 percent national software. Dalbay said Turksat 5A would be built at facilities of the Turkish Aerospace Industries in 2012 and was planned to be launched in 2014.

AA