Satellite operator, SES, has announced that its African and European focused ASTRA 2F satellite is fully operational.

The satellite, which was successfully launched on board an Ariane 5 rocket from Kourou, French Guiana; plans to help enhance broadband connectivity in Africa and Europe.

The multi-mission facility carries Ku-band and Ka-band payloads for the delivery of high-performance Direct-to-Home (DTH) and next generation broadband services in Europe and Africa.

Yves Feltes, SES spokesperson, confirmed ASTRA 2F had successfully completed its in-orbit testing and is immediately fully operational.

“ASTRA 2F is part of a larger fleet replacement and expansion programme at the 28.2/28.5 degrees East neighborhood, consisting of ASTRA 2E, 2F and 2G, that provides replacement and growth capacity for the UK and Ireland as well as for other services in and outside of Europe,” the official added,

Feltes said ASTRA 2E and ASTRA 2G, also under construction with Astrium, are scheduled for launch in 2013 and 2014 respectively.

Of the ASTRA 2F’ spacecraft’s payload, 48 Ku-band transponders covers Europe and 12 Ku-band transponders are dedicated to sub-Saharan Africa. Meanwhile, 3 Ka-band transponders are planned to allow SES Broadband Services to support download speeds of up to 20 Mbps.

ASTRA 2F was built by Astrium in Toulouse using a Eurostar E3000 platform. It is the Luxembourg-based company’s 52nd SES satellite and the fourth to serve Africa.