The inaugural flight of a Russian Soyuz rocket from South America will carry an Australian telecommunications satellite in a deal that also includes a sister spacecraft flying aboard an Ariane 5 booster, launch marketer Arianespace announced Wednesday.

The satellite pair, called Optus D1 and D2, is designed to provide television broadcasting, Internet connection, telephony and data transmission services to Australia and New Zealand.

An Ariane 5 will launch Optus D1 in late 2005; Optus D2 follows in 2007 atop the first Soyuz to lift off from the Guiana Space Center.

Orbital Sciences will manufacture the two spacecraft in Dulles, Virginia, using the Star-2 platform. Each satellite shall weigh approximately 2,500 kg at launch. Their geostationary orbit positions are slated to be 160 degrees East and 156 degrees East above the equator, respectively.

Optus has achieved two successful launches on Arianespace in the past -- Optus A3 in 1987 and the Optus and Defence C1 satellite last June. Separately, Optus' parent company SingTel chose Arianespace to launch its ST-1 satellite in 1998.

Optus D1 and D2 are the 252nd and 253rd contracts signed by Arianespace since its founding in March 1980. Arianespace currently has 35 confirmed satellite launch contracts, officials said.

In other Ariane news this week, Arianespace and EADS Space Transportation have signed a contract to build 30 Ariane 5 rockets for about 3 billion Euros.

"This contract, called 'PA batch,' will allow Arianespace to ensure its launch service continuity, to enhance its performance and competitiveness on the international launcher market," officials said.

The first Ariane 5 of the PA batch will be launched in 2005. This batch consists of the Ariane 5 ECA configuration with cryogenic upper stages and the Ariane 5 ES version for the launches of the European Space Agency's Automated Transfer Vehicle cargo ships to the International Space Station.