Broadband has been making a splash recently with its ability to stretch several communication channels over a single medium. While early discussions of Broadband tended to relegate its applicability to wire, developers have collectively turned their eyes toward the skies with a vision of using satellite transmission as the primary means of delivering Broadband content. One advantage in doing so is that satellites can deliver data to any number of receivers over a vast geographic area, effectively offering its users point-to-multipoint connectivity. Furthermore, satellite Broadband has the unique advantage of working equally well in any location, whether its users are in midtown Manhattan or on a farm in Wyoming.

So far about 20 companies have filed claims with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to buy up portions of the valuable Ka-band, an orbital zone that allows satellites to operate at a far greater frequency that those that are currently in use. However, there is some conjecture as to how many of these companies will actually send up a satellite. The astronomical cost of the endeavor is a prohibitive factor, as are the enforced timeframes companies have in which to launch their satellites before the rights to the Ka-band "slots" revert back to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the international body that oversees the allocation of orbital space. Having said that, few industry experts doubt that satellite Broadband will eventually become a reality. Its potential for quicker and higher-quality point-to-multipoint transmissions is too obvious to be ignored.

The more specific question is "Whose Broadband satellites will populate the lion's share of Ka-band frequency slots?" At present, the US stands to lose the international rights that its companies hold to these prime orbital slots if they do not have satellites operating in them by deadlines that range from late 2004 to early 2006. At those appointed times, if the satellites are not in position, the ITU, which is a branch of the United Nations, will rescind their rights and appropriate them to other nations who have already filed petitions for the valuable slots. Think of the game "musical chairs", but on a global scale. This "first come, first served" allocation of orbital real estate means that the US is in the position of having to either expedite the time-consuming process of designing, funding and launching satellites or run the risk of losing the opportunity altogether.

Sources: U.S. Races Deadline to Launch Satellites
Rory J. O'Connor
Interactive Week, April 16, 2001
http://www.zdnet.com/intweek/stories/news/0,4164,2708310,00.html

Space: The Next Broadband Frontier
Bridget Malone
Electronic Commerce World, April 2001
http://www.ecomworld.com/search/author/article.cfm?ContentId=802