Thales Alenia Space has secured a contract from the Turkmenistan Government to build a telecommunications satellite.

The satellite is scheduled to launch in 2014 and has a lifetime of 15 years.

It will be based on the Thales Alenia Space Spacebus C2 platform and controlled by the Monaco Government.

The satellite will have a launch mass in excess of 4.5t and will carry Ku-band transponders covering large beams over Central Asia.