Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg told a meeting in Nigeria that the satellite on which it is jointly leasing capacity with Eutelsat is launching later this week, reported Bloomberg.

The two firms announced a multi-year partnership to lease the entire Ka-band broadband payload on the AMOS-6 satellite in October last year. The capacity will provide coverage in rural parts of sub-Saharan African.

The aim is to provide connectivity at affordable rates, the Facebook chief told the meeting: “It’s not much good having the infrastructure if people cannot afford to use it.”

The partners said last year that the capacity would come online in the second half of 2016, so Zuckerberg’s comments in Lagos are consistent with that timetable, although a media report earlier this year said the satellite would go into orbit in August, indicating a slight delay to the schedule.

Israeli firm Spacecom owns and operates the AMOS-6 satellite.

In separate marketing efforts, Eutelsat and Facebook will each deploy services designed to meet demand for connectivity from users in Africa beyond the range of fixed and mobile terrestrial networks.

The $95 million cost of leasing the Ka band on the Amos-6 satellite is divided between Eutelsat and Facebook over 4-5 years, with an option to extend the contract by a further two years.

Separately, satellite operator SES announced in April that Facebook will lease Ku-band capacity for broadband coverage in Africa on the Astra 2G, Astra 3B and Astra 4A in-orbit satellites. This agreement will support Facebook’s Express Wi-Fi programme.