Waiting for WiMax? You may have a long wait...

There has been a lot of "buzz" in the internet community for some time now about service coming in the near future that could enable Internet Providers to use high powered WIFI (termed 802.16) to provide high speed internet over a 30 mile radius in the best conditions. This approach would eliminate latency, which has dogged the growth of satellite internet (the mainstay for access to rural America) for years.
The bad news is it is very expensive to build out infrastructure....very expensive!
I don't believe it will become universally available for many years. There will be efforts to install 802.16 in densly populated, but underserved, areas and that will be about it - for a good while.
If you have been "holding off" until wimax comes, it might be time to investigate some of the new satellite offerings which we should see in 2005: Ka band internet, Surfbeam Ku band internet, the new Direcway 7000 series modems/gateways and the iDirect platform are the best bets for the next three years or so.
More information about these solutions at http://www.vsatus.com

SkyTerra purchase of 50% of Direcway completed

April 25, 2005 The DIRECTV Group, Inc. (NYSE:DTV) and SkyTerra Communications, Inc. (OTCBB:SKYT), an affiliate of Apollo Management, L.P., a New York-based private equity firm, today announced the completion of transactions that resulted in SkyTerra acquiring a 50 percent interest in a new entity, Hughes Network Systems LLC (HNS LLC), that in turn had acquired substantially all of the remaining assets of Hughes Network Systems, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of The DIRECTV Group.-courtesy Business Wire.
DirecTV Group received about $246 million in cash and 300,000 shares of Sky Terra stock. DirecTV group, as previously stated in an earlier post, will carry the 50% ownership of HNS LLC as an investment and the management of over 1,300 former HNS employees will be handled by SkyTerra.
“Today, with the completion of our new ownership structure, we start an exciting new chapter in the history of our company,” said Pradman Kaul, Chairman and CEO of Hughes Network Systems, LLC. “Our management team continues and we welcome the new ownership structure, which brings two major players in the satellite industry to join with DIRECTV as our owners, SkyTerra and Apollo Management.”- what else could he say?.....he has a new boss as of today. I give it 6-8 weeks before major management and direction changes occur.

Hold on...Direcway's last gasp? The DW-7000 series is coming!

In a 8K filing with the SEC on April 5, 2005, Hughes Network Systems (soon to be managed & 50% owned by Sky Terra) let the cat out of the bag and revealed the upcoming introduction of the DW 7000/7700:
"We will continue this tradition with the release of our DW7000 terminal, scheduled for mid-2005, which is expected to increase our customers’ in-route data speeds by as much as 600% and expand service functionality while lowering their hardware costs."
Wonder what expense weary DirecWay customers will have to endure to get what they should have gotten in the first place - high speed internet! Undoubtedly they will have to buy the "box", traditionally costing $500-800 or more(unless you agree to a multi-year deal), change the satellite they are pointed to- usually a $200 charge for a re-point and agree to at least a new 1 year deal....hmmm...sounds a bit risky considering DirecWay's past record of not delivering new services on schedule, not living up to the speed promises they have made in the past and charging more than WildBlue has advertised (unless, of course, they drop prices to compete). Guess we'll have to wait till "mid-2005" to find out!

Rocky

For the latest prices on WildBlue service slated for late June delivery, go to: http://www.vsatus.com