Head of the Egyptian Space Agency Mohamed El-Qousy has said that Egypt’s first telecommunications satellite Tiba 1 will be launched on Monday night at 11:08pm Cairo time.

According to El-Qousy, the satellite will cover all of Egypt and provide telecommunication and internet services in remote and isolated areas. This is according to ahramonline.

The satellite will be launched on the Ariane 5 rocket from a space centre in French Guiana, near Brazil.

The decision to launch came after intensive meetings between the French company Ariane Space and a high-level Egyptian delegation at the launching base in the city of Kourou in French Guiana.

The French company briefed the Egyptian delegation on the latest in technical preparations for the launch platform after tests on the operating systems were completed.

The Ariane 5 rocket was initially scheduled to launch last Friday, but the launch was postponed due to a malfunction in the power supply to the ground equipment on the launching platform minutes before launch.

El-Qousy has previously stated that the satellite would be operational within three months of its launch day.