IPSTAR Launches Satellite Broadband from India to Australia
Thailand’s iPSTAR was successfully launched by Arianespace Thurs. with a payload devoted exclusively to broadband delivery for the Asia-Pacific region. Three- month-old WildBlue is no longer the new kid on the satellite broadband block, and all eyes are now on iPSTAR to see how satellite broadband fares internationally.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
If your job depends on informed compliance, you need International Trade Today. Delivered every business day and available any time online, only International Trade Today helps you stay current on the increasingly complex international trade regulatory environment.
Also called Thaicom 4, iPSTAR is designed to provide broadband to enterprises and consumers across 14 countries from India to China to New Zealand. The 4th to be launched by Shin Satellite, a subsidiary of Thailand’s largest telecom company, the spacecraft is the first in the region with a focus exclusively on broadband. Shin has said the satellite will be used for a range of IP services, from Internet access to VoIP, in an effort to go head-to-head with terrestrial broadband in the Asia- Pacific region and fill gaps in its availability.
“The demand for increased broadband access across the globe is a key driver in the satellite manufacturing industry,” said Bernard Schwartz, CEO of Loral Space & Communications, manufacturer of the satellite. Schwartz said the firm is making additional satellites designed for expanded Internet access.
The design -- which will point 112 spot and regional beams in the Ku and Ka-bands at the region -- is intended for small satellite dishes and to speed data transmission. The model is similar to WildBlue’s, which uses 31 spot beams covering the continental U.S. aboard a Boeing-built satellite operated by Canada’s Telesat. IPSTAR has total data throughput capacity over 45 Gbps, Loral officials said, and it’s designed to provide users data speeds up to 4 Mbps on the forward link and 2 Mbps on the return link.
Shin Satellite said it has spent years researching and developing new technology to make Internet by satellite more efficient, hoping to reduce costs and improve the service to end users. Broadband by satellite makes sense for regions beyond the reach of DSL and cable, but its future is still hazy because the service is generally slower and more expensive than land-based options.
“People are really waiting to see how this goes. A lot of money has gone into ths project,” said a satellite industry official: “If this is successful, give it a year or 2 and we might see more satellite companies getting involved.” EchoStar officials expressed interest, and caution, in satellite broadband this week (CD Aug 10 p2).
Originally planned for July 11, the launch was delayed by problems with Ariane ground equipment. The satellite was launched from French Guiana on an Ariane 5 rocket.