New Delhi, July 24 - The government has approved development of the advanced GSAT-11 communication satellite for augmenting telecommunication services in the country.

The clearance for undertaking design and development of the Rs.5 billion satellite came late Thursday night in a meeting of the union cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

GSAT-11 is an advanced communication satellite which will send telecom signals in the powerful Ku and Ka bands of the electromagnetic spectrum.

The Ku band is primarily used for satellite television.

'The launch of GSAT-11 will augment the Ku band capacity considerably for telecommunication services in the country,' a government spokesperson said.

GSAT-11 is planned to be ready for launch in 30 months and is meant to provide telecom links with small Ku-band terminals all over India.