This is the way to roll out high speed Internet access to rural areas
- wonder if this will make BPL a less attractive alternative?

Hope so!

73, Leo



http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servl...iness/Canadian

New satellite Internet boon to rural areas

Canadian Anik F2 'bird' will allow blanket high-speed service across
North America

By SIMON AVERY
TECHNOLOGY REPORTER
Friday, July 9, 2004 - Page B4


Telesat Canada says it's about to blanket North America with access to
high-speed Internet service with the planned launch on Monday of the
world's largest communications satellite.

The 6,000-kilogram Anik F2 promises two-way links for consumers on
their computers, at a competitive price, by using a frequency never
employed commercially before. The service will be targeted, beginning
in October, to the approximately 25 per cent of the population that is
out of range of traditional cable and DSL broadband services.

While Internet access is already offered via satellite today, such
services are used primarily by businesses that can afford the premium
price. Consumers who subscribe to a satellite service provider pay two
to three times the price charged by cable and DSL companies and must
rely on cumbersome dishes about one metre in diameter. The Anik F2
employs Ka-band technology, which can transmit data faster and more
cheaply than the standard Ku-band. Telesat says data will flow at
about one megabit a second and will require a smaller antenna at the
consumer's end (just 66 centimetres in diameter).

"This is a dramatic event. This satellite will channel broadband
capacity throughout North America, especially to rural areas that
desperately need it." said Paul Dykewicz, senior editor and senior
analyst of Satellite News, an industry publication in Potomac, Md.
"What you have right now is a digital divide where urban areas receive
broadband and rural areas are devoid of any affordable consumer
service."

Telesat, a wholly owned subsidiary of BCE Inc. (which also has a
majority stake in Bell Globemedia, owner of The Globe and Mail), says
about 75 per cent of the capacity on Anik F2 has already been sold to
telecom carriers, broadcasters and resellers, which include Star
Choice Communications Inc., a subsidiary of Shaw Communications Inc.,
and WildBlue Communications of Greenwood Village, Colo.

"All of a sudden, right off the bat, you'll have coverage all over
Canada," said Paul Bush, vice-president of broadcast and corporate
development for Telesat. Subscription prices will be slightly higher
than traditional DSL and cable services, but the technology is not
geared at the urban centres these existing products serve, he said.

The Anik F2 is massive by earlier commercial satellite standards. Its
panel of solar arrays, once unfolded, will stretch across almost 50
metres of space. One of the reasons for the size is the amount of
solar and backup power required to transmit the Ka-band signals to
small receiver dishes on Earth. Another is the fact that the 'bird' is
designed with several bands to carry voice, video and data signals.
These multiple capabilities reduce the risk associated with carrying
the new and commercially unproven Ka-band, Mr. Dykewicz says.

Telesat's biggest challenge won't be the new technology so much as
proving that there is in fact a commercially viable market for
broadband service in rural and remote areas of North America, he said.

The Anik F2 satellite was built by Boeing Space Systems, with antenna
work subcontracted out to EMS Technologies Inc.'s Satcom division in
Ottawa and some of the internal electronics done by Com Dev
International Ltd. of Cambridge, Ont.

While Mr. Bush wouldn't outline specific costs, he said the full cost
of Anik F2, which took almost four years to build, will be in the
"hundreds of millions of dollars," a price tag that includes the cost
of the satellite, the launch and the insurance. The satellite is
scheduled to launch Monday on an Ariane rocket from Kourou, French
Guiana.