...next year, Ukrainian State Space Agency head Yuri Alexeyev said on Friday, in a report from ITAR-TASS News Agency. Alexeyev said Ukraine failed to confirm the orbital slot of Lybid in due time and a French satellite took that place. “It took us six months to coordinate the new orbital slot. It was previously located at 38 degrees East, now it is 48 degrees East,” he said. “The new orbital slot will broaden the area covered by the Ukrainian satellite. It will fully cover Ukraine, its neighbors, North Africa and some of Asia.”

The satellite was expected to broadcast the Euro 2012 finals, but it was agreed later on that the job would be done by French satellites, Alexeyev said. The project costs $292 million. Canada's MDA won the tender in 2009. A loan of the Canadian Export Agency granted for the period of ten years under the Ukrainian government guarantee covers the expenditures. Alexeyev believes that the expenditures would be recovered within seven to eight years of satellite operations.