Eutelsat Communications and ViaSat have a new cooperation agreement under which the two will jointly offer “affordable, high-quality” consumer broadband satellite service in areas of Europe where wired broadband is not readily available – so-called “broadband challenged areas. The service will start in June in Germany, Switzerland, Spain and Portugal.
Eutelsat says it is Europe’s leading satellite operator. ViaSat produces satellite networking systems.
The service will be based on ViaSat’s SurfBeam DOCSIS two-way broadband satellite system, an open standards-based platform that reportedly lowers the cost of consumer terminals and service.
In the US, WildBlue Communications uses the same system. WildBlue, which offers broadband nationwide, has deals with AT&T, DirecTV and EchoStar. Liberty Media, which now owns the controlling share in DirecTV, is WildBlue’s largest shareholder. Since launching in 2005, WildBlue has signed up about 10,000 subscribers.
Marc Agnew, VP of broadband systems at ViaSat, said the company is testing “a competitive, affordable service” that would expand the consumer broadband market in Europe.
PricewaterhouseCoopers estimates that by 2010, 58.1% (94.8 million) of households in Western Europe will have broadband, up from 29.9% in 2005. Broadband access spending will increase by 12.9% compounded annually to $48.2 billion in 2010.
ViaSat’s SurfBeam system uses the DOCSIS technology that the cable TV companies developed for broadband and uses in tens of millions cable modems for homes. As a result of the ensuing volumes, DOCSIS gear is low-cost.
Paris-based Eutelsat has 23 satellites that cover all of Europe, the Middle East, Africa, India and significant parts of Asia and the Americas. At the end of 2006, Eutelsat was broadcasting over 2,400 television channels and 1,000 radio stations.