CARLSBAD, Calif., Feb. 9, 2016 – ViaSat Inc. , a global broadband services and technology company, continues to redefine the role satellite plays in the competitive broadband communications market with the introduction of the ViaSat-3 ultra-high capacity satellite platform – which is comprised of three ViaSat-3 class satellites with state-of-the-art ground network infrastructure. Work is underway with the first two ViaSat-3 satellites, with ViaSat starting work on the satellite payloads and Boeing Satellite Systems starting on the associated satellite bus platforms, expected for integration and delivery in 2019. The first two satellites will focus on the Americasand Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), respectively, with a third satellite system planned for the Asia Pacific region, completing ViaSat’s global service coverage.
Delivering More Choice through More Network Capacity
The ViaSat-3 platform is the next big step for ViaSat to fulfill its ambition of delivering a global broadband network with enough capacity to deliver more consumer choice with an affordable, high-speed, high-quality internet and video streaming service. The first two satellites will deliver more than twice the total network capacity of the approximately 400 commercial communications satellites in space today – combined.
The ViaSat-3 platform can serve more customer demand by:
- Delivering a 100+ Megabit per second (Mbps) residential internet service, enabling 4K ultra-high definition video streaming;
- Supporting each aircraft with hundreds of Mbps of in-flight connectivity services and video streaming for commercial airlines, business jets and high-value government aircraft;
- Providing up to 1-Gigabit per second (Gbps) speeds for use in maritime, oceanic and other corporate enterprise applications such as oil and gas platforms; and
- Offering affordable satellite Wi-Fi connectivity to the billions of unconnected people in emerging markets.
Technology with a Global Mission
ViaSat’s innovative satellite and ground technology provides unprecedented capabilities in terms of service speed, cost and flexibility. The platform:
- Delivers more than 1,000 Gbps – or 1-Terabit per second (Tbps) – of network capacity per satellite to enable high-speed internet, including video streaming, at scale;
- Leverages dynamic flexibility to continually direct capacity where customers are located – whether at home or on the move. With an estimated one half of the world’s population living on only one percent of the Earth’s land and the other half broadly dispersed, the ability to target capacity is critical to creating a true global broadband network;
- Utilizes cloud technology for network processing and operations. By migrating portions of the network into the cloud, the platform advances and simplifies network infrastructure, improves system-wide reliability and reduces network capital and operational costs; and
- Operates compatibly with ViaSat-2 class terminals, to extend coverage, improve transmission speeds and further reduce network capacity costs to a fraction of what they are today.
“The innovations in the ViaSat-3 system do what until now has been impossible in the telecommunications industry – combining enormous network capacity with global coverage, and dynamic flexibility to allocate resources according to geographic demand,” said Mark Dankberg, chairman and CEO, ViaSat. “While there are multiple companies and consortia with ambitions to connect the world with telecom, satellite and space technologies, the key technologies underlying ViaSat-3 are in hand today, enabling us to move forward in building the first broadband platform to bring high-speed internet connectivity, including video streaming, to all.”
