July 18, 2004 - 6:30 AM

Ariane rocket launches satellite

By Laurent Marot

KOUROU, French Guiana (Reuters) - A European Ariane rocket has blasted off from French Guiana and launched a satellite to provide
high-speed internet access to remote parts of Canada, space officials say.

The Ariane-5 rocket departed from the European Space Agency's launch centre in Kourou, French Guiana on the northeast coast of South
America at 9.44 p.m. (1:44 a.m. British time on Sunday).

The rocket lit up the equatorial night sky and was visible from the ground for 30 seconds before disappearing into low cloud.

Scheduled for launch on Monday, the mission was called off three times when technical and weather problems halted countdown.

Twenty-eight minutes after launch, the rocket released the ANIK F2 satellite for Ottawa-based Telesat Canada, a wholly owned subsidiary
of Bell Canada.

"This satellite has a new frequency band that can offer high-speed Internet anywhere in Canada," Telesat vice president Roger Tinley told
Reuters after the launch.

"We have many regions in Canada that doesn't have high-speed Internet access, particularly in the north and outside urban areas. With this
satellite we hope to cover all of Canada including the most isolated areas," he said.

Tinley said the cost of ANIK F2 - satellite, launch and insurance -- was approximately $600 million (321 million pounds).

Designed to operate in space for 15 years, Anik F2 is expected to begin service in October. It will also provide standard
telecommunications services to businesses and homes in Canada and the United States.

Billed by the Arianespace rocket launch company as "the world's largest commercial satellite ever launched," ANIK F2 weighed over 5.9
metric tonnes (13,000 lb) at launch and was built by Boeing Space Systems as part of its new 702 satellite series.

After a series of high profile failures of companies marketing small microsatellites in the late 1990s, a trend toward larger and heavier
satellites has re-emerged.

Arianespace improved its ability to launch heavy satellites with the introduction of the Ariane-5 series in 1996.

But the company suffered a setback in late 2002 when a first attempt to launch an upgraded Ariane-5 rocket capable of carrying 10 metric
tonnes into space failed.