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BANGALORE, India, Jan 24 (AFP) - The successful launch Thursday of India's third generation satellite, the Insat-3C, will provide a crucial boost to the country's communications industry, officials said.

An Ariane-42L rocket placed the 2.75-tonne Insat-3C in orbit after takeoff from Europe's space centre in Kourou, French Guiana, in the early hours of Thursday morning.

"In terms of capacity, this is the largest satellite we have built so far," said K. Kasturirangan, chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

The satellite is carrying 33 transponders, one of which is dedicated to mobile communications.

"As it is a communication and TV broadcasting satellite, both the government as well as the private companies can use it. It will be allocated based on demand and there is more than enough demand," said ISRO spokesman S. Krishnamurthy.

"There is no plan right now to sell transponders to neighbouring countries," Krishnamurthy said.

The 2.5 billion rupee (53 million dollar) Insat-3C has a designed 12-year mission life and will replace ageing satellites like the Insat-2C and give a fresh impetus to India's telecommunications, broadcasting, business communication and mobile services sectors.

"It is more like another generating station which adds to the existing capacity of telecommunication and TV coverage," another ISRO official said.

Roddam Narasimha, a member of India's Space Commission which oversees the national space programme, said the launch was a "big step forward" for the communications industry in India.

"The demand for communication is growing rapidly and the country badly needed this," Narasimha said.

In a message of congratulations, Indian President K.R. Narayanan said the launch was "yet another landmark" in the national space programme and had enabled India to "leap into the higher stages of self-sufficiency in the challenging and competitive area of space technology."

India's first satellite, Apple, was launched in June 1981. Ariane, which is built by the European Space Agency (ESA) and operated by its marketing arm, Arianespace, has launched eight satellites for ISRO. The last one, Insat-3B, was launched in March 2000.

Despite its efforts, India still lacks a rocket capable of carrying large payloads. Its most powerful rocket, the GSLV (Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle), which carried out its first flight on April 18 last year, can place a maximum of two tonnes in geostationary orbit.

With six others, India can thus only hope to place in orbit a maximum six telecommunications satellites of two tonnes at most, while the size of these satellites, including those of the ISRO, is constantly increasing.

Insat-3C has been ready since August and was initially due to be launched by ESA's latest rocket, the heavy-lifted Ariane-5.

However, a failure with one of the Ariane-5 launches last July caused the schedule to be rearranged, with the mission rescheduled aboard an Ariane-42L. 

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