On December 19, 2008 the Ariane 5 ECA with HOT BIRD 9 and W2M rolled out from the Final Assembly Building at 11:00 a.m. for a 2.8 km transfer to the ELA-3 launch area and arrived on the launch pad 1 hour 15 minutes later.
W2M was typically configured to operate 26 Ku-band transponders and had the capacity for up to 32 transponders depending on operational modes.
ANTRIX, the commercial arm of ISRO, supplied the W2M satellite bus and was responsible for its integration and test before shipment to French Guiana.
Arianespace's initial schedule set liftoff of the HOT BIRD 9 and W2M Ariane 5 mission for the night of December 10, 2008 with a UTC launch window from 21:35 to 22:45 on December 11, 2008.
W2M had an advertised liftoff mass of approximately 3,460 kg.
W2M was based on ISRO's I-3K satellite bus.
EADS Astrium was prime contractor for both HOT BIRD 9 and W2M's communications payloads and program management roles.
W2M was developed by a European–Indian industrial alliance in which EADS Astrium was prime contractor and ANTRIX/ISRO supplied the satellite bus and handled integration and test.
The W2M satellite underwent a test deployment of its solar panels in clean room conditions at the Spaceport during its pre-launch processing.
W2M arrived in French Guiana on October 20, 2008 in a shipping container reflecting its Indian-built bus.
As of December 11, 2008 the Kourou launch window for the Ariane 5 HOT BIRD 9/W2M mission was scheduled from 18:51 to 19:50 local time on December 20, 2008 and the UTC window was scheduled from 21:51 to 22:50 on December 20, 2008.
W2M was specified to have a solar-array span of 15.7 meters when fully deployed in orbit.
W2M was due to be shipped from Bangalore, India to Kourou by mid-October 2008 to initiate final preparations for launch.
Arianespace Flight 186 was planned to orbit Eutelsat's HOT BIRD 9 and W2M satellites as the sixth Ariane 5 launch of 2008.