The nation's largest communications service provider has signed a contract with France’s Arianespace to launch a satellite in 2010.

KT announced Sunday that it will use the French firm’s Ariane 5 ECA rockets to launch the satellite Mugunghwa-Six in August 2010 from a space center in French Guiana, located on the northern coast of South America.

The new satellite will replace the current Mugunghwa-Three, whose mission will end in December 2011.

The Mugunghwa-Six will allow KT to meet the increasing demand for high-definition broadcasting, as terrestrial broadcasting must go fully digital by 2013.