Azerbaijan will launch its first telecommunications satellite in early February, the country's information and communications technology minister says.

ICT Minister Ali Abbasov made the announcement in Baku Monday, China's Xinhua News Agency reported.

The Azerspace-1 satellite has already been delivered to the launch site at the Kourou space center in French Guiana, Abbasov said, where it will be launched into orbit by an Ariane 5 ECA rocket.

The satellite has been leased from MEASAT Satellite Systems, a company owned by the government of Malaysia, and will offer telecommunication services to Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, Central Asia and North Africa.

Built by the Orbital Sciences Corp. in the United States, Azerspace-1 is designed to provide digital broadcasting, Internet access, data transmission and governmental communications, Xinhua reported.