U.S. Startup To Provide Ka-Band Internet Service in Japan

摘要

A U.S.-headquartered company that has secured the rights to use the Ka-band capacity on a Japanese satellite already in orbit expects to begin offering consumer-broadband service late this year and is counting on a strategic partner to turn a 30,000-subscriber trial into a 250,000-subscriber business, the company's chief executive said. James G. "Buzz" Beitchman, a satellite telecommunications veteran and a former chief engineer at Japan's JSat satellite operator, now called SkyPerfect JSat, said his company, BB Sat, has spent some three years fulfilling Japan's often complex regulatory requirements for a two-way satellite business. He said BB Sat has ordered its first 500 Surfbeam two-way satellite terminals from partner ViaSat Inc. of Carlsbad, Calif.