Eutelsat and ViaSat Prep 100Mbps Satellite Broadband for EU and UK

Satellite operators Eutelsat and ViaSat have announced that they’re teaming up via a Joint Venture. On top of that ViaSat has also announced plans to build three new ViaSat-3 spacecraft, which could deliver broadband speeds of 100Mbps+ to customers around Europe and possibly the UK.

Apparently the first two satellites will focus on the Americas and Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), respectively, while a third is planned for the Asia Pacific region. Construction of the first two ViaSat-3 satellites, which is being helped by Boeing Satellite Systems, has already begun and these should be delivered in 2019 (i.e. related services probably won’t go live until 2020).

Admittedly the new Satellite’s aren’t going to solve the age old problem of latency, which will always be slow given the orbit / relay distance, but they will make such services significantly faster and add a huge amount of extra capacity (1Tbps Terabit per second (1000Gbps) of network capacity per satellite).

The promise of this is that the new Satellites will be able to deliver “residential” packages that offer download speeds of 100Mbps+ “enabling 4K ultra-high definition video streaming” (hopefully the data usage allowances will be adjusted upwards to match), which is faster than BT’s best FTTC (VDSL) lines today (up to 80Mbps). A 1Gbps service will also be offered to the maritime sector (ships and off-shore oil platforms etc.), as well as something similar for aircraft.

But of course by 2019/20 BT will have deployed a lot of 300-500Mbps fixed line G.fast connectivity and no doubt Virgin Media will have gone beyond their current top speed of 200Mbps, although both of those will still be more focused on the first 60-65% of largely urban UK premises. As such ViaSat’s new kit, which will also be compatible with the existing ViaSat-2 class terminals, remains focused on those with slower connections (e.g. rural areas).

Mark Dankberg, Chairman and CEO of ViaSat, said:

“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.

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.”

The other big news is the Joint Venture with Eutelsat, which will help ViaSat to expand into Europe. At the same time it will allow Eutelsat to expand its current wholesale broadband business and launch a new consumer retail service in Europe.

The joint venture will initially use Eutelsat’s existing KA-SAT spacecraft, although this is very likely to be expanded to include ViaSat-3 when it launches.

Michel de Rosen, Eutelsat Chairman and CEO, said:

“With KA-SAT, our unique dedicated High Throughput Satellite, Eutelsat has built an effective, high-quality, broadband platform for Europe in which ViaSat has played a key role as technical partner. Broadband is an important component of our strategy, and we seek to partner with market-leading companies that contribute to enriching our offer.

ViaSat is a partner that we both trust and value for its track record in setting industry standards and developing technologies that unlock broadband opportunities. Our joint venture will take our relationship to a new level and give further impetus to affordable, high-quality internet services in Europe.”

In relation to this ViaSat said that they would continue to provide selected broadband technologies for KA-SAT gateways and terminals and will acquire a 49% interest in the wholesale side of the new business, for a consideration of €132.5 million (£103m).

On the retail side we expect to see the first consumer services going live sometime this year, with ViaSat owning 51% of the business and Eutelsat holding 49%. However the deal is still subject to the usual regulatory approvals and that isn’t expected to complete until the second quarter of 2016.