New Delhi, Nov. 27: An advanced communication satellite built by the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) for a European customer was today launched successfully aboard the European Ariane-5 rocket from Kourou in French Guyana.

Thirty-five minutes after lift-off, the Highly Adaptable Satellite separated from the Ariane rocket and Isro’s ground control centre in Hassan, Karnataka, began receiving radio signals transmitted by the satellite.

The satellite, developed by Isro for Avanti Communications, is intended to deliver high-speed broadband services across Europe. Isro received the contract after it created an alliance with a European company Astrium, for joint development of communication satellites.

Isro developed the bus integration and testing for the 2,541-kg satellite that is expected to have an operating life of 15 years.

In December 2008, Ariane-5 had launched a 3,460-kg satellite, W2M, Isro’s first satellite for a foreign customer, which had been designed to provide radio, television and cable and data services across Europe and North Africa. But about a month after its launch, W2M had suffered what was described a major anomaly with the satellite’s power subsystem.