High-Speed Satellite Data Network Planned

- Mary Jander

TechWeb Technology News 23rd March

(http://www.techweb.com/wire/story/TWB19990323S0002)

Hughes Electronics, in El Segundo, Calif., has unveiled a $1.4 billion plan for a North American satellite network offering high-speed bandwidth for data, Internet access, videoconferencing, and other applications on demand. The service is dubbed Spaceway, and it is planned for rollout in 2002 as the first part of Hughes' plan for a global broadband satellite network. Hughes said it would offer Spaceway as part of its Direc series of services, which now includes DirecPC Internet and DirecWay Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT). The services would be based on a system of geostationary satellites and would support data transmission at 30 GHz and reception at 20 GHz. Spaceway would furnish users with 16-Mb/s uplinks and 400-megabits per second downlinks, the company added.

Hughes, whose DirecTV Inc. subsidiary has quickly emerged as cable's biggest video rival, said last week it will spend the first $1.4 billion to build and launch three high-powered Ka-band satellites that would serve North America by early 2002. The Spaceway system will deliver such two-way services as fast Internet access, video conferencing, long-distance learning and, possibly, interactive TV to consumers and businesses with new dishes as small as 26 inches in diameter.

In a novel twist, Spaceway will offer services to subscribers on a "bandwidth-on-demand" basis, meaning that customers will pay only for the bandwidth that they actually use on the new spot-beam birds. Currently, most Internet service providers (ISPs) charge a flat monthly fee of about $19.95 to dial-up users, while cable operators typically charge $40 to $50 a month for much faster cable-modem service.

Article Presented by : Amit Bokey