The Canadian government awarded satellite operators Ciel Satellite LP and Telesat Canada a total of 12 licenses to develop new communications satellites, the government announced June 13.

Ciel, which was awarded seven licenses, and Telesat, which received five, plan to invest several billion dollars in building and launching satellites to implement high-definition television, Internet protocol TV services and satellite Internet services in Canada, Canada’s Ministry of Industry said.

"Canada needs to increase its satellite capacity to keep pace with the ever-increasing demand for satellite services," Minister of Industry Maxime Bernier said in a statement.
The first satellites are expected to be operational as early as 2010.