Hughes Europe, Bentley Walker plan Ka-band satellite services for Middle East

The Middle East will soon gain new satellite broadband capacity courtesy Hughes Europe and Bentley Walker. The two companies entered a new agreement for the provision of high-speed communications services in the region via the Avanti Hylas 2 Ka-band satellite.

This is the latest joint endeavor between long-standing partners Hughes Europe and Bentley Walker. Hughes will provide three additional Gateway NOCs -two of which are the latest HX System 4.0 systems- to Bentley Walker. The NOCs will allow resellers to create local Virtual Network Operators (VNOs) that can deliver SATCOM services such as Internet-on-satellite and VoIP calls.

Bentley Walker will use its new Hughes-supplied NOCs to enhance its current portfolio of Ka-band broadband services. The company currently provides US military personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan with satellite broadband communications services for purposes of morale, welfare, and recreation.

In addition to higher throughput speeds, the new Ka-band service planned by Hughes and Bentley Walker can operate using a smaller satellite antenna. This will help keep costs down and ensure an easy upgrade path for existing users.

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Dish Network debuts dishNET satellite broadband service

Starting this October, Dish Network will be bringing their much-touted Ku-band satellite broadband services to American customers. Its new Internet-from-satellite service is called dishNET and is rolled into Dish’s satellite TV service. Customers who subscribe to both services will get a monthly discount of $10.

In an announcement, Mr. Joseph Clayton, CEO of Dish Network, said that the company was launching a “revolutionary” consumer broadband service that will bring high-speed Internet to rural markets nationwide. “With nearly one-in-four rural residents lacking a high-speed connection, reaching these underserved markets is vital,” he explained. “Our mission is to provide broadband at an outstanding value with fast speeds and large data plans.”

The basic dishNET package offers 5 Mbps download speeds and 1 Mbps upload speeds with a monthly data plan that maxes out at 10 GB. It costs $39.99 a month. Dish’s other satellite broadband Internet service offers double the download speed (10 Mbps) and a maximum data plan of 20 GB while retaining the same 1 Mbps upload speed. The second plan costs an extra $10.

Dish has been able to decrease the price of satellite broadband to make it more economically accessible for rural areas that have made do with DSL connections for the past decade. In addition, dishNET uses the well-established Ku-band to deliver high speeds.

For those leery of inclement weather and other disruptions cutting off their Internet-by-satellite connectivity, Dish Network also offers a wired broadband solution. The most expensive of the three wired options costs as much as the basic dishNET service and has double the download speed and a bigger data plan. Of course, this particular set of broadband Internet options requires a landline connection in the first place.

The new high-speed Internet-on-satellite service will be available wherever Dish Network can deliver its service. Coincidentally, Dish has nationwide coverage, including plenty of rural communities that can now enjoy faster Internet speeds thanks to Dish's new satellite broadband solution.