SATELLITES NEED TO RESOLVE STANDARDS TO BECOME INTERNET DISTRIBUTOR
“Capacity is coming, but not this year” on broadband satellite systems, SpaceBridge Semiconductor Vp Dick Bakker said at satellite-over-Internet conference in Arlington, Va., Tues. Satellite industry has been dominated by proprietary broadband satellite systems and special assembly construction, with resulting low volumes, he said. Satellite won’t achieve any significant share of Internet access market until manufacturers adopt standards for satellite-oriented, over-the-air protocols, Bakker said, and industry uses advanced chips to much greater extent.
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“The number of people who make a living by connecting to the Internet keeps growing,” Bakker said. “Today there are 20 million qualified broadband customers that are off-net, and there will be 50 million by 2005.” He said satellite needed to follow cable’s example. In 1995, cable was thought of as expensive, unidirectional, inappropriate Internet access, but in 2001, it’s dominant medium for consumer broadband, he said: “Cable has done a remarkable job just in 6 years using cable-oriented protocols and cable specific chips. Through these 2 developments, the key technical issues were solved, the volume increased and the functionality improved. The same issues have to be addressed in the satellite industry.”
Satellite needs large increase in transponder capacity in order to address consumer market, Bakker said: “It’s coming, but not here yet. Over the next 18 months satellite capacity will stay expensive.” Satellite also must demonstrate that it can deliver profitable Internet access and find profitable markets to address and service packages beyond access, he said: “Our long- term objective is to drive toward a low-cost terminal, thereby enabling widespread satellite Internet access.” Unfortunately, he said, U.S. doesn’t put enough effort into development of satellite Internet systems.
N. America is number one long-term satellite market, Tellus Venture Assoc. Pres. Stephen Blum said: “In the U.S., the satellite Internet service in the short term is not positive. It’s hard to compete with terrestrial providers. Down the road, satellite is going to play an important role in distributing Internet content to households using broadcast.” EchoStar Data Networks Vp James Stratigos said: “I see the development of the satellite Internet access as a 10-year phenomenon.” It’s important for satellite Internet to focus on markets with long- term potential, especially on “unserved areas,” Stratigos said. Among services provided by EchoStar is satellite TV and 2-way Internet via same dish. “Our challenge is no longer whether the technology will work -- it does -- but how to effectively market, distribute and install the technology and service the customer.” - - Susan Polyakova