Advanced Television

ViaSat promises “unlimited bandwidth” over satellite

November 19, 2014

By Chris Forrester

California-based satellite broadband operator ViaSat says it intends to offer an unlimited bandwidth service to subscribers once its upcoming ViaSat-2 is in orbit. Launch of ViaSat-2 is due in mid-2016.

VCEO Mark Dankberg said his intention is to challenge cable and DSL service providers which are often unable to manage demand from users for higher bandwidth speeds. Dankberg said service levels from some terrestrial providers were also challenged in urban areas.

The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) says that even in wired areas where high bandwidth speeds (of 50 Mbps) are available, there are many homes (around 40 percent of the total of connected homes) receiving significantly lower “mediocre” speeds from some suppliers.

ViaSat suggests that a 25 megabits/second satellite service would have no terrestrial competition in some 20 per cent of US households.

ViaSat said that in the quarter-year ending Sept. 30, its consumer broadband service grew its customer base by some 4.3 per cent, to 657,000 subscribers. Rival Hughes’ consumer broadband offering grew by 2.7 per cent, to 960,000 subscribers, in the same period.

Categories: Articles, Broadband, Satellite