ViaSat has contracted with Space Systems/Loral to build ViaSat-1, a Ka-band satellite that is expected to be the world’s highest capacity broadband satellite, the company said Monday.
ViaSat-1 is designed to expand the quality, capability and availability of high-speed broadband satellite services in the United States and Canada.
The satellite will be optimized to work with ViaSat’s SurfBeam networking system and is expected to increase the amount of satellite broadband capacity by more than 10 times when compared to today’s generation of Ka-band satellites. The launch of the ViaSat-1 satellite is planned for early 2011 and involves the collaboration of Loral, Telesat and Eutelsat.
The system is designed to provide a range of speeds that extends well above the median for cable and DSL at retail pricing, the company said.
For more information, visit www.viasat.com.
