ViaSat has finalized a contract with Telesat to supply gateways and terminals for Telesat’s consumer Ka-band services on the Anik F2 satellite. Under the terms of the agreement, ViaSat will deliver and install a complete Ka-band broadband satellite system including gateways, a network management system and terminals, based on its SurfBeam product line.
The contract, with an initial value of approximately US$9 million, follows the authorization to proceed that was awarded to ViaSat and announced in March 2004.
Telesat’s Anik F2 is a Ka-band satellite that will concentrate its transmissions into powerful spot beams, focused on specific coverage areas, rather than the continent-wide beams that most of today’s satellites use. Spot beam satellites are designed primarily for broadband data/Internet applications and therefore can generally support more customers than traditional satellites.
The increased efficiency of spot beam satellites is expected to reduce the cost of satellite airtime and the price that customers must pay for broadband service. Launch of the new satellite is scheduled for this summer with the goal of providing individuals, small businesses and home office users with broadband service access anywhere in Canada.
When coupled with advanced satellite technology, the ViaSat SurfBeam consumer/SOHO broadband system, lowers the cost of consumer terminals, provides mature back office and customer service systems, and makes satellite a very cost-effective medium for broadband delivery. SurfBeam is an open standard network that leverages the cable modem networking standard called DOCSIS (Data-Over-Cable Service Interface Specifications).
