New Satellite Claims 100 Gbps Transfer Capacity ViaSat signed an agreement with Arianespace to launch the ViaSat-1 satellite.
Last Thursday's announcement said the satellite is scheduled for launch by an Ariane 5 during the first half of 2011 from Kourou, French Guiana.
ViaSat-1 is being built by Space Systems/Loral in Palo Alto, Calif.. The ViaSat networks Web site says the satellite will support 2 million subscribers with service "on a par with DSL and cable." The satellite will have 10 times the throughput of any other Ka-band satellite.
A chart on the Web site show the baseline designed capacity of the satellite is 100 Gbps. Basic service speed will be 2 Mbps. Other reports indicate the satellite will be located at 115 degrees West Longitude and provide service to hard-to-reach areas in the United States and Canada.
If portable uplinks are allowed to access the satellite, it could revolutionize remote newsgathering operations by providing a high-speed Internet connectivity capable of supporting compressed video data rates anywhere in the continental United States.
Read more of Doug Lung's RF Reporthere.
