Up, up and away - the role of airborne masts in spreading connectivity

摘要

Promising trials of air-based technologies, such as satellite, drones or balloons, are being explored as new means of delivering network connectivity. But could this approach be one that ultimately stretches far and wide, or will it remain limited to temporary deployments? Alongside delivering broadcast content, satellite has been quietly providing connectivity to industries outside the reach of terrestrial cellular networks, such as maritime, for decades. Historically it has suffered from higher cost and lower bandwidth than terrestrial technologies, but provides the benefit of extremely broad coverage. However, it has sometimes seen a bumpy flight -SkyBridge, an Alcatel satellite project, went bankrupt in 2000 and Microsoft-backed Teledesic shut up shop in 2002.