EchoStar Signs Agreement to Distribute WildBlue High-Speed Internet Service

[broadbandinabox]

EchoStar Communications Corporation (NASDAQ: DISH) announced today the company has signed a five-year wholesale distribution agreement with WildBlue Communications, Inc., a satellite-delivered broadband Internet service. The service, dubbed "DISH High-Speed Internet, powered by WildBlue," will be targeted toward EchoStar's DISH Network(TM) satellite TV customers located in rural markets. As part of the agreement, WildBlue is the only satellite-based Internet solution that EchoStar will offer to its customers for the next five years.

"EchoStar is pleased to not only be able to provide a high-speed Internet solution to our DISH Network customers, but also give our retailers another quality product to sell to their customers who live in rural areas," said Jim DeFranco, executive vice president at EchoStar.



DISH Network will begin offering its high-speed Internet service by this fall, and will handle all customer acquisition, installation, customer care and billing operations; WildBlue will oversee the satellite and backbone connectivity. DISH Network pricing for its high-speed Internet offering will be announced later this year.





"Our agreement with EchoStar marks an exciting time at WildBlue," said David Leonard, WildBlue's Chief Executive Officer. "We have worked very hard this year to make our affordable broadband Internet service available to every home and small business across the continental U.S., and we are very pleased to be working with EchoStar to further strengthen our presence nationwide."


With DISH High-Speed Internet, Powered by WildBlue, customers will be able to have access speeds up to 30 times faster than dial-up. The two-way satellite service provides an always-on, high-speed data connection. DISH Network customers will need to purchase a separate WildBlue satellite dish to receive the broadband service; however they do not need an additional phone or cable line.



About EchoStar
EchoStar Communications Corporation (NASDAQ: DISH) serves more than 12.2 million satellite TV customers through its DISH Network(TM), the fastest growing U.S. provider of advanced digital television services in the last five years. DISH Network offers hundreds of video and audio channels, Interactive TV, HDTV, sports and international programming, together with professional installation and 24-hour customer service. Visit EchoStar's DISH Network at DISH Network - 1.888.825.2557 or call 1-800-333-DISH (3474).



About WildBlue



WildBlue Communications, Inc. was established to provide broadband access to consumers and small offices in rural areas and small cities. Service is available in the contiguous United States. More information on the company is available at WildBlue: High Speed Internet via Satellite - official website.

 

[broadbandinabox]

My sources tell me its on AMC-15, the same bird our group has a lease on, VERY interesting development.

 

[Stargazer]

They will probably use same satellite but different transponders on the satellite. Could this mean cheaper offerings for the service, less than the $50 per month price? Or will they not allow that since it would be competing against themselves? Maybe they will offer a bundling discount to get away with it.

Dish Network is already selling WildBlue service.

 

[broadbandinabox]

WB uses KA-band on the download and KU-band on the upload.

AMC-15 to my knowledge doesn't have any other KA-band leasees, unless Dish Net is using some for locals. Anyone know?

 

[grohgreg]

WB uses KA-band on the download and KU-band on the upload. AMC-15 to my knowledge doesn't have any other KA-band leasees, unless Dish Net is using some for locals.

WHAT???? Good grief mate, get a clue. Wildblue has never EVER fielded anything but Ka-band hardware, transmit OR receive. As many times as you've professed to know absolutely nothing about two-way systems, how did you miss telling yourself?

You really need to do some homework before you post. Check SES AMERICOM - Coverage Areas. It lists both AMC15 and AMC16 as fully leased. And for anybody that's actually interested, the official EchoStar press release is here: http://www.echostar.com/downloads/pdf/news/press_releases/WILDBLUE.pdf

What should be more interesting to watch is how effective WB will be in managing TRIA distribution again. The Ka-lease on Anik-F2 uses RHCP. Their own satellite - WildBlue1 - uses LHCP. That caused some confusion in the field about who got which TRIA. It's come full circle again, as AMC-15 is RHCP. Let's see. Anik-F2 capacity was stated as ~150,000 Ka-band customers, Wildblue-1 reportedly bumped that number all the way up to 750,000. It seems hard to believe that WB has that many customers already. Cuz unless one of those birds is getting sick, the only other reason to lease more bandwidth is to accommodate the overflow.

//greg//

 

[broadbandinabox]

OK, here's something that we finally agree on, AMC-15 is fully leased.

-BUT-

This link: @ LyngSat shows a whole lot of empty slots on AMC-15, so there it's fully leased but not at full capacity. Agree?

I know BJU Press also has a service on AMC-15 which they decided that they are going to shut off here in a few months, so there's at least a few more transponders which will go dark as well. Available? You bet!

QUESTION: if AMC-15 is at full capacity, then why did WildBlue sign a lease agreement with EchoStar a few days ago for capacity on AMC-15 if its at full capacity? Wouldn't it make more sense to sign a lease on a bird which had capacity for them to ADD more customers? Obviously saying AMC-15 is fully leased is only through SES, now sub-leases are plentiful, hence this arrangement between EchoStar and WB.

 

[broadbandinabox]

Another Question: who is using the KA-band capacity on AMC-15?

 

[grohgreg]

Prove it. Your link doesn't show anything in regards to leases so I don't have a clue what you're talking about, as usual.

I think we're back to the reading disability again. Return to SES AMERICOM - Coverage Areas and read the part where it says "Note: AMC-15 and AMC-16 are hybrid Ku/Ka-band spacecraft. Both are fully leased." Ironically, it's the bottom line.

Edit: I see you realized your mistake and edited it out of http://www.satelliteguys.us/broadba...-high-speed-internet-service.html#post1770097. Unfortunately for you, site notification emails can't be edited.

This link: @ LyngSat shows a whole lot of empty slots on AMC-15, so there it's fully leased but not at full capacity. Agree?

No, I don't. See, this is further evidence of how sales types get in over their heads in an environment like this. Go back to that LyngSat page. Note the bold print numbers in the Freq/tp column. Freq stands for frequency, tp stands for transponder. The letter behind the five digit number indicates polarization. Those numbers are are Ku-band transponder frequencies. No Ka-data is listed. I would have thought the fact that Ku appears 17 times in the Beam column - might have tipped you off.

Another Question: who is using the KA-band capacity on AMC-15?

At this point, who cares? By your own admission, you're just guessing that the lease might involve AMC-15. It's not the only Ka-capable satellite up there. But whatever platform is actually involved, I'd expect Wildblue to lease the entire Ka-capacity. Spot beam frequency management is complex, to the point it can represent a significant administrative expense. If they don't have to share RF bandwidth with other leasees, that expense is minimized.

//greg//

 

[broadbandinabox]

I noticed it and changed what I had written, thank the MOD's for the edit button.

I didn't notice that it listed KU-band capacity only on LyngSat, see there's another thing I learned from you. Thanks.

Regards,

 

[HCI]

WB uses KA-band on the download and KU-band on the upload.

AMC-15 to my knowledge doesn't have any other KA-band leasees, unless Dish Net is using some for locals. Anyone know?

WTF?

 

[Stargazer]

Dish Network used to use the 105 slot for locals but have taken those down and put those channels at other orbital locations such as 129 for example.

 

[digiblur]

I'm laughing that someone is relying on Lyngsat data

If indeed they are using AMC15 or 16 they spotbeams are pretty large on those birds compared to the other KA spotbeam birds but you never know how many TP's are in each spotbeam.

 

[broadbandinabox]

Thanks for the info Stargazer.

Is there another, better source for transponder information than Lyngsat? SES's doesn't have nearly the amount available on their site.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Stargazer]

I am not sure.

 

[broadbandinabox]

Thank you regardless Stargazer.

digiblur, do you know of any site that's better than LyngSat for transponder lease information, etc.?

 

[digiblur]

No, that information is not released all the time. Nor is the lease used all the time. Best thing to do when looking is use a spectrum analyzer of some sort. Lyngsat counts on users in the US to update the thing but updates are slow so you really can't use it for live data. I've sent data to them in the past a couple of times and they never updated it.

 

[grohgreg]

I've sent data to them in the past a couple of times and they never updated it.

I too used to send updates to Mark. But after a while some of the data wasn't getting entered correctly. Don't know if he had some temp hires or what, but I didn't want my name in the credit column for info that wasn't accurate. So I just quit sending him stuff.

//greg//