Hylas-1 internet-dedicated satellite launched

The satellite is designed to fill so-called internet "notspots" - remote locations such as rural villages where it is currently not possible to get a fast internet connection.

Hylas will be offering up to 10Mbps to its users.

Lift-off from the Kourou spaceport in French Guiana occurred at 1539 local time (1839 GMT), and the satellite was successfully placed in orbit 34 minutes later.

A signal from Hylas was picked up almost immediately at an antenna sited in India.

Controllers will now take a number of weeks to position the spacecraft properly in the sky some 36,000km above the equator, and to check out onboard systems.

Hylas (Highly Adaptable Satellite) is a commercial venture operated by start-up Avanti Communications of London, but the spacecraft itself incorporates technology developed with public funding through the European Space Agency (Esa).

"It is a fairly small spacecraft but rather capable," Esa's Hylas project manager Andrea Cotellessa told BBC News.

"The payload has flexibility to reallocate bandwidth and power in each of the eight spot beams that cover key market areas selected by Avanti.

"Normally, satellites have this frequency plan fixed at the design stage and it can't be changed in orbit.

"On Hylas, this can be done at any moment in time from the control centre. This agility is important because it will allow Avanti to keep up with market evolution."

Hylas was prepared at the Portsmouth, UK, factory of EADS Astrium, Europe's largest space company, and in Bangalore by Antrix, a commercial arm of the Indian space agency (Isro).

The 2.6-tonne spacecraft will operate in the Ka radio band and deliver broadband services to some 350,000 subscribers.