MOSCOW, December 14. /TASS/. The Reshetnev Information Satellite Systems Company has taken over control of the Ekspress-AMU3 and Ekspress-AMU7 telecom satellites that were launched from Baikonur the day before, Roscosmos told reporters.

"Control of the spacecraft was taken over by the company that produced them, the Reshetnev Information Satellite Systems Company," Roscosmos’ press service said.

A Proton-M booster rocket carrying two telecom satellites, the Ekspress-AMU3 and Ekspress-AMU7, blasted off from the Baikonur cosmodrome at 3:07 Moscow time on December 13. They separated from the booster on Tuesday morning. The spacecraft will employ their onboard engines to raise their orbit, a process that will take from 56 to 59 days.

The satellites are designed to be used in fixed and mobile telecoms, digital TV, broadband Internet connection, and data transfer in Russia and the CIS in the C, Ku, and L bands. They were launched for the Russian Satellite Communications Company, known also as RSCC and Kosmicheskaya Svyaz.