The first gateway, in Beijing, was inaugurated in May.

With the completion of all three gateways in China, iPSTAR service will be available nationwide in China through iPSTAR's partners, China Satellite Communication and its subsidiary China Broadband Satellite Network (CBSN).

Following this major milestone, ShinSat and CBSN signed a purchase contract for the first lot of 5,000 iPSTAR user terminals, to be delivered in the coming months.

This first lot of terminals will be used for several pilot projects, such as extending communications services to suburban and rural areas of China in support of that government's rural-development policy.

CBSN will also provide high-speed multimedia Internet with voice and video for corporate customers, schools, mining sites and government offices across the country.

ShinSat chief commercial officer Yongsit Rojsrivichaikul called completion of all three gateways in China a major milestone for the iPSTAR satellite.

"The iPSTAR service can now be commercially deployed nationwide in China, our biggest market under the iPSTAR service footprint, with a capacity of more than 12 gigabytes per second, representing about 25 per cent of our total satellite capacity," he added.

The iPSTAR satellite currently provides full nationwide broadband satellite services to seven countries: Thailand, Australia, New Zealand, Vietnam, Burma, Laos and China. Its footprint covers 14 countries in the Asia-Pacific.