Satellite Broadband: Size of Satellite Just One Part of the Equation

摘要

At SATELLITE 2013, Hughes announced the new Jupiter 2/EchoStar ⅩⅨ satellite. This satellite will be built by Space Systems/Loral on the SSL 1300 bus and will have 50 percent more capacity than its predecessors Jupiter I/EchoStar ⅩⅦ and than ViaSat-1, both also built by SSL. With average broadband speeds growing every year (20 percent, according to the FCC's last broadband report), new capacity is necessary in order to stay in the game. Each successive satellite (broadband or otherwise) has more capacity than those before, lowering the per-bit cost and allowing improvements in service without a corresponding increase in prices or decrease in number of subscribers.