two Iridium satellites made by US telecommunications giant Motorola Inc. into orbit this weekend, the People's Daily said Sunday.

The launch, China's sixth this year and the 55th for the Long March series of rockets, took place Saturday evening from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in northern Shanxi Province, the newspaper said.

The launch of two satellites was to augment the iridium satellite network, which provides worldwide telecommunications coverage through low-earth satellites and land-based wireless systems.

China, which fulfilled all launch contracts for Iridium satellites in May, had launched a previous augmentation satellite on August 20, according to the People's Daily.

Iridium is owned by a BerAmuda-registered partnership.