Consumer and Business Satellite Internet News

As the summer of 2005 arrives, several new vsat internet companies have launched products and made promises that are frankly too optimistic and in some cases just plain untrue. In other cases, they have backed off initial upload speed predictions, downgraded the capabilities (such as voip & vpn) and pushed back program launch dates. What started as a very optimistic year for the deployment of faster and less expensive satellite broadband for underserved parts of the U.S. has begun to fizzle.
On the Consumer front, the product offering this year with the most publicity, long anticipated Ka Band spot beam internet, has started to roll out in Canadian markets and will soon begin limited installs in the U.S. by Wildblue Communications. The early users of Ka band in Canada are reporting acceptable download speeds, but the upload speeds are pedestrian by any standard...not very encouraging. The saving grace is that the service is less expensive than offerings like Direcway and Starband. The early tests of Wildblue customers in the U.S. have not been verified or widely published, so we will have to wait a bit; however, the service is coming from the same satellite used for Canadian customers, although it is a different set of spot beams.
The greatest problem for the consumer sector is the inability of providers to earn a profit. This must change in 2005 or providers will abandon the market. SatMex, the Mexico based satellite owner and provider of a good deal of the consumer ku band service in North, Central and South America, was forced into Chapter 11 Bankruptcy court last week by creditors.
On the commercial front, there have been two new types of "Enterprise" priced services emerge this year. Ku Band Surfbeam internet (a ViaSat product- very similar to the ka band modem but for Ku satellites) and a DVB-RCS product from Telnor out of Norway. Both offerings promise faster speeds for less money than their rivals. There haven't been any reliable test results offered by these companies yet to validate the claims. I've seen limited speed test results and nothing earth shattering has come to my attention thus far. There seems to be one thing missing from all of these less expensive commercial products - low contention ratios* - the key to consistent fast service.
*the number of concurrent users on a transponder, put in it's simplest terms.
For those who can't get terrestrial service, whether consumer or commercial, the equation hasn't changed - it still costs money to be guaranteed fast service! The kinds of things many people and companies want to do on an internet connection - connect to home office, use the internet for telephone calls, send or receive large files or stream video and transact business over the internet - remain difficult to do without a $2,500 + setup and monthly cost in the hundreds, when all the dust settles. I don't see that changing too much for two years or more... but I sure hope I'm wrong on this one!

Randy Scott
VSAT U.S.
1-866-978-4613
http://www.vsatus.com

Miraxis -The next great thing?

Miraxis is a little known ka band satellite internet company which is owned by the same company that owns 1/2 of HNS LLC (Direcway)- Sky Terra Communications. They have developed a "next generation" of Ka Band satellites and technology which they maintain will enable their partners to offer TV, bidirectional satellite internet, ultra fast vpn, on demand entertainment and about anything else you may have dreamed of over satellite for a good deal less than what current, as they call them, "generic ka band satellites"(Are they referring to Wildblue?) now provide.
Sound like science fiction? Maybe not. These guys have very strong pedigree's at the top of the company and have ties with SES Astra, which has ties to SES Americom, which has two ka satellites in orbit over the U.S. right now....starting to get the picture? This may be part of what Sky Terra was after with the purchase of Direcway....a customer base of some 250,000 consumer & small business subscribers they can whisk away to this new technology and team up with Intelsat(launching this summer) or SES Americom to deliver a hefty blow to the efforts of some of the other ka band internet efforts. Anything that happens in this industry would not surprise me!
Their site: http:www.miraxis.net/services.html

Where is Echostar's ka band internet program?

During the last 6 months, Echostar, who's primary product is Dish Network (a consumer satellite TV product), has leased an enormous amount of ka band spot beam transponder space from SES Americom ( all of SES Americom 16 and a good bit of SES Americom 15). What are they doing with it? Nothing.....they might not be able to afford to do anything right now. This company is in debt "up to their eyeballs"...as the commercial says. With total debt of 8.4 Billion dollars and a deficit net worth (1.8 billion @ 3-31-2005), they could use some serious credit counseling!
It's unclear what they are up to, but it's been said they would come out with a ka band internet product to compete with Wildblue during 2005 and additionally use the ka band space to launch new HDTV channels. I would bet on the HDTV play and not a ka band internet program.....they can't afford it. To me it appears that Wildblue will be the only ka band internet option for the near term...unless, of course, Echostar defaults on the leases to SES Americom.....then look out Wildblue, a giant will be unleashed! SES has made noises they want to enter the ka band internet market, but unless they "buy-back" transponder space on the leases with Echostar (or Echostar defaults), what will they use for a satellite? This mystery will all unfold by August 2005 I predict.

"Heard on the Satellite Street"

Here's the latest news from two big satellite internet companies:
Direcway
HNS LLC (Direcway) has announced the "Enterprise" service levels for the DW 7700 product they advertise that will be available in June. The speeds are impressive, but at what cost? From my investigation, none of the Value Added Resellers, a big part of their sales effort, have costs or any more information than the Press Release from HNS on May 2nd. I think it is ambitious, to say the least, that they will have everyone "spooled up" to provide this new equipment & service by June....we'll wait and see. The service levels are here: www.hns.com

Wildblue
The NRTC member coop's will get "first crack" at signing up new Wildblue customers. The rumor on the street is that only customers of a Co-op utility will be sold service until it is more widely available through the two master distributors later in the year. The greatest problem NRTC has right now is getting enough installers trained to handle the nuances of Ka band internet. I'm told the NRTC requires specific training which is slightly different than standard Wildblue training and ONLY NRTC trained installers can do NRTC member installs....sounds a bit strange, but that's at least one NRTC member's story. Another member said that was hogwash.....so who knows?
The training of installers, the somewhat limited supply of Surfbeam Ka band modems and some last minute concerns about the wattage of transmitter needed to provide advertised speeds seem to be dragging things to a slower start than late May-June rollout....we'll just have to wait and see on this developing story.
Wildblue waiting list here: http://www.vsatus.com/page13.htm

Rocky