Business services and in-flight offerings are among several remaining marketplaces that...
Business services and in-flight offerings are among several remaining marketplaces that satellite broadband providers plan to address now that Hughes Network Systems and ViaSat have added much higher capacity satellites to their systems, said executives from both companies, speaking Monday…
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at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. While consumer satellite broadband will continue to be the primary focus, ViaSat is now spending a lot of time preparing to offer more enterprise services for business needs, said Dan Turak, ViaSat vice president-sales and distribution. Businesses will likely look to satellite broadband as a way to improve from dial-up or DSL service or to be a redundant service, he said. ViaSat will also begin offering some voice service soon, he said. In-flight services are also a source of potential revenue growth, said Allen McCabe, Hughes director-sales. Although the in-flight services are able to use some auto-adjusting technology to keep the satellite dish aligned with the satellite, such technology isn’t expected to be soon available to regular consumers, such as mobile homes, the executives said. That’s still “down the road” as ViaSat will focus on other priorities in the immediate future, said Turak. Much of the work for satellite broadband continues to be successfully explaining to consumers exactly what satellite broadband can provide, said McCabe. The satellite providers don’t expect to compete with the other major providers in urban areas, but can still be a very useful option for the unserved and underserved, said Turak. Some of that education includes discussions with the FCC so it’s aware of satellite broadband’s role, he said. There’s been some recent success in working with the government, most recently through grants from the Rural Utilities Service, said Turak. The industry can still be very successful without government assistance, but if the government is in the business of supporting broadband, satellite should be at the table, said Turak. Dish Network’s acquisition of AWS-4 spectrum is expected to be a piece of a comprehensive product offering by the company that will also include Hughes’ offerings, said McCabe. The option of offering bundled services will continue to be important, even though it’s not for everyone, said Turak. The purchases of WildBlue by ViaSat and Hughes by EchoStar have validated the satellite industry, said Turak.