Venezuela to launch its 4th satellite

Venezuela's President Nicolás Maduro has announced plans to launch a fourth satellite, named Guaicaipuro, providing telecommunications services.

Agreements with China have helped the nation develop and launch the country's three other satellites.

The Simón Bolívar satellite (Venesat-1) was launched in 2008 and provides services in areas such as telephony, television, security, telemedicine and remote education services. The Francisco Miranda satellite (VRSS-1) was launched in 2012 and is used to provide territorial information for urban, agricultural and industrial planning.

China launched an earth-imaging satellite for Venezuela in October last year.

"It's an ultra-modern satellite, I was looking at the technical specifications for providing internet, telephony, television, and social network services. Venezuela is going to have its own social network hosted on the Guaicaipuro satellite," Maduro said in a statement.

No further details concerning the cost or launch date were given.