Economics of Modern Broadband Over Satellite Still Unclear, Says Executive

摘要

While satellite manufacturers have the technical ability to provide modern broadband speeds, it isn't clear yet if the economics are right for mass satellite broadband offerings, said Christopher Hoeber, Space Systems/Loral senior vice president of program management and systems engineering during the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics conference in Anaheim, Calif. Broadband satellites require about three times as much equipment as most other satellites, adding to their costs and power needs, he said on a panel. The difficulty of designing Internet protocols to deal with the inherent latency of the satellite broadband and the expense of modems also make satellite broadband a difficult business, he said. Satellite broadband is still far from being able to provide the Internet speeds most Americans have become accustomed to, said Rick Skinner, vice president of strategy and business development at Lockheed Martin Space Systems. While the industry can deliver broadband, it isn't modern broadband, he said. Hughes Network Systems and WildBlue are still trying to find the right balance of high-speed offerings and enough subscribers that their networks can support so the subscribers essentially pay for the increased satellite costs, said Hoeber. While the next generation of high-throughput satellites for each will offer around 100 Gbps, efforts toward producing a 400 Gbps satellite are already "on the drawing board," he said.