Ka-band – the part of the spectrum that covers the frequencies of 26.5 GHz to 40 GHz – is creating enormous opportunities for satellite operators, as well as being a crucial factor in bringing advanced triple-play content to rural areas across the world, according to Paul Scardino, VP of Corporate Sales and Marketing at Globecomm. Scardino was addressing the World Teleport Association Dialogue Panel during IBC in Amsterdam.

“People will increasingly watch television by viewing exactly what they want and when they want to watch it,” he said. “The power, speed and bandwidth capabilities of Ka-band are not only perfectly suitable for this need but come in a changing world where the TV and computer have become one and the same. People will watch news and sport programming live – as it actually happens – and with the rest of their favourite programmes, they will choose the viewing time. This matches perfectly to the added benefit in today’s content-hungry market that Ka-band is totally interactive.”

According to Globecomm, such an offering, a competitive interactive triple-play via satellite, will help to make satellite providers more cost effective compared to fibre and cable offerings, and in addition, traditional telcos and cable providers could also adopt Ka-band to help meet the increasing need and clamour to support rural areas – especially broadband ‘not spots’. This resonates with the thoughts of Commissioner for Digital Agenda, Neelie Kroes, who in May announced that satellite “can provide a great contribution to deliver the important goal of basic broadband for all”.

“Ka-band can more than meet the challenge of the digital divide and there is a lot of low hanging fruit for operators of all kinds to pick by using it to meet rural demand across the world,” Scardino said. He also saw increased demand for Ka-band as triple-play service demand expanded into new areas such as social media and multi-screen viewing.

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