Mexico City: The Centenario communications satellite will be launched this weekend atop a Proton rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, Mexico's Communications and Transport Secretariat said, media reported on Saturday.

The departure of the Centenario was originally scheduled for 29 April, but was postponed at the request of Boeing Satellite Systems International after an anomaly was discovered in a similar craft, Xinhua news agency reported.

The spacecraft will become fully operational 10 months after launch.

The satellite will be placed in orbit over the equator at an altitude of 36,000 km (22,300 miles).

Centenario was designed to serve for 15 years and is part of a communications system including two other satellites.