ViaSat to Phase Out WildBlue

[Scott Greczkowski]

ViaSat to Phase Out WildBlue

February 9, 2012 | Jeff Baumgartner Now we know why DirecTV Group Inc. (NYSE: DTV) has been giving WildBlue Communications the Voldemort treatment.

ViaSat Inc. (Nasdaq: VSAT), WildBlue's owner, is directing resellers to refrain from mentioning the service by name and to stop selling it altogether. It turns out to be because ViaSat is phasing out the satellite-based service as it phases in the much faster Exede service. (See DirecTV Cuts WildBlue From Its Broadband Future .)

ViaSat expects to complete the rollout of Exede by March 1, offering tiers that top out at 12Mbit/s downstream and 3Mbit/s upstream, a company official confirmed Thursday. As Exede becomes available in a given area, ViaSat will stop selling WildBlue, which offers 1.5Mbit/s down/256kbit/s up (it doesn't even quality as "broadband" in the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) 's eyes). (See FCC: Broadband Starts at 4 Mbit/s and ViaSat Acquires WildBlue.)

See the rest at
Light Reading Cable - Video - ViaSat to Phase Out WildBlue - Telecom News Analysis

[navychop]

Can't help but wonder what the Wildblue hardware and bandwidth will be used for now.

[grohgreg]

It'll still be out there, just used for Exede service instead. SSDD

//greg//

[nelson61]

ViaSat to Phase Out WildBlue

February 9, 2012 | Jeff Baumgartner Now we know why DirecTV Group Inc. (NYSE: DTV) has been giving WildBlue Communications the Voldemort treatment.

ViaSat Inc. (Nasdaq: VSAT), WildBlue's owner, is directing resellers to refrain from mentioning the service by name and to stop selling it altogether. It turns out to be because ViaSat is phasing out the satellite-based service as it phases in the much faster Exede service. (See DirecTV Cuts WildBlue From Its Broadband Future .)

ViaSat expects to complete the rollout of Exede by March 1, offering tiers that top out at 12Mbit/s downstream and 3Mbit/s upstream, a company official confirmed Thursday. As Exede becomes available in a given area, ViaSat will stop selling WildBlue, which offers 1.5Mbit/s down/256kbit/s up (it doesn't even quality as "broadband" in the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) 's eyes). (See FCC: Broadband Starts at 4 Mbit/s and ViaSat Acquires WildBlue.)

See the rest at
Light Reading Cable - Video - ViaSat to Phase Out WildBlue - Telecom News Analysis

Nice article but with one misleading statement.

"There's a sizable gap in the more sparsely populated midwestern region (save for areas such as Denver and Phoenix) that's not accessible by ViaSat-1, the bird that powers Exede and was launched last fall and brought into service in January. "

Viasat has beams throughout the "WildBlue" area, they just choose not to use them for capacity planning purposes.

[grohgreg]

Umm, how is that misleading? Folks living in that area will NOT in fact be granted access to Exede12 via ViaSat-1. They're relegated to an Exede5 "upgrade" via existing Anik-F2 and WB-1 satellites.

//greg//