WildBlue Articles

A clock in the break room of WildBlue Communications' Denver Tech Center office counts down the minutes until next Friday's launch of the company's new satellite.
And, the company hopes, a new surge of subscribers.

WildBlue, which introduced its high-speed Internet service to rural areas in June 2005, has about 100,000 subscribers and is signing up new ones at a clip of 10,000 a month. The company is currently leasing space on a Canadian satellite that's run out of room to send signals to new customers in areas of the Midwest and East Coast.

The WildBlue-1 satellite should solve that, tripling the amount of customers the company can reach throughout the U.S. That capacity is going to come in handy as WildBlue's marketing agreements with DirecTV and EchoStar's Dish Network, the primary sources of pay TV for rural residents, go into full swing early next year. WildBlue also has a similar arrangement with phone company AT&T.

"This will be a big step forward," said Ken Carroll, WildBlue's president and chief operating officer. The combination of the new satellite and DirecTV and Dish deals "really are going to create a turning point for the company next year."

Nearly 15 million rural residents can't receive high-speed Internet from phone or cable companies because of the cost required to build their networks out to thinly populated areas. About 25 percent of rural residents had high-speed Internet connections at home, according to a 2006 Pew Internet survey, compared with about 46 percent in suburban areas.

"We're trying to bridge that digital divide," he said.

WildBlue, whose investors include John Malone's Liberty Media, isn't the first company to offer satellite-based high- speed Internet service. Hughes Network Systems and Spacenet, which sells the Starband service, are competitors.

It also may eventually face competition from alternative technologies, such as broadband over powerlines and Wi-Max technology that transmits wireless Internet signals over a range of miles.

WildBlue's service isn't cheap. Basic service costs about $50 a month, nearly twice as much as Qwest's slowest DSL, and the dish costs $299.

But some customers have no other options. Kathy and Alfred Luke run a 6,000-acre ranch five miles outside Julesburg in northeastern Colorado. They started looking for high-speed Internet access a year ago so they could participate in online cattle auctions but didn't have any luck with their dial-up Internet service provider, Qwest, or their local satellite service provider.

"I know that farming people are the last to get anything - electricity, indoor plumbing," Kathy Luke said. "It was such a struggle finding someone."

But WildBlue has worked, she said.

"We're happy to have it," she said. "I can't compare it to anything else because we can't get anything else."

Today, an inside source at WildBlue stated that based on timelines for delievery of parts and good weather that WILDBLUE1 will launch on Decmeber 6. If the launch date holds up, WildBlue expects that Arianespace and Space Systems/Loral will turn over the satellite to WildBlue approximately 45 days after insertion into orbit.
"This is great for new and existing customers", an inside source was quoted as saying. Speculation is that some of the overcrowding that has existing in some of the other beams may be helped by the new satellite launch. The jury is still out, but sources confirmed that board is looking at some different options. The source was also quoted as saying that even though the satellite may be under their control after 45 days, it will still be months for additional capacity to come on line. It takes time to build and test new gateway servers and assoicated equipment that comprise a gateway setup.
We do know that there will be additional Gateways and (the good news) is that there will be additional capacity. Even though their original service was good it was somewhat limited by the space leased on the Anik2 satellite, WildBlue1 will provide so much more capacity that they expect that the sky will be turning a darker blue as more and more WildBlue dishes dot the horizon.
We wish WildBlue and its team all the the best in getting WildBlue1 up and look for forward as a (premier) dealer to working with their staff as they turn up additional capacity.

GT

11/30/2006 - The latest update on the launch of WildBlue 1 is Friday December 8th. All gateways have been delivered and one is for installation. Some of equipment for the first beam to come on line has been boxed up and ready to ship to location. Lips have been tight about specifics, but for WildBlue it is a Tale of Two Futures. One might be described as a future smooth roads and a view from the top, the other.... Well, you get the picture. Needless to say, if something goes amiss with the launch, WildBlue will looking around for capacity and how to make the leasing model work in their environment.

The payload fairing containing WildBlue-1 is hoisted from the encapsulation hall area of Ariane 5's Final Assembly Building at the Spaceport (photo at left). An overhead hoist lifts the payload through an opening in the hall's ceiling, providing access to the launcher.

The payload fairing/WildBlue-1 combination has reached the end of its upward climb in the Final Assembly Building, and is ready to be brought forward for installation over the AMC-18 satellite - a portion of which is partly visible above the access platforms. WildBlue-1 was produced by Space/Systems Loral, and has a liftoff mass of 4,735 kg.

The integration process is completed as the fairing is lowered into place over AMC-18. This 2,080-kg. Lockheed Martin-built satellite is mounted on a cone-shaped adapter that serves as the interface with Ariane 5.

Ariane 5 is able to carry such dual satellite payloads with its use of the SYLDA 5 multi-payload dispenser system. For Arianespace's December 8 flight, AMC-18 is installed atop the Ariane 5's central cryogenic core stage. WildBlue-1 is mounted on the Sylda 5 dispenser - and both are encapsulated inside the payload fairing - with the combination positioned over AMC-18.

WildBlue Communications announced that Arianespace has scheduled the launch of its Ka-band spot beam satellite, WildBlue-1, on an Ariane 5 vehicle in the fourth quarter of 2006 from the Guiana Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana. WildBlue provides broadband connectivity via satellite to homes and small businesses in communities where terrestrial broadband access is either limited or unavailable. The WildBlue-1 satellite will enable WildBlue to serve more customers throughout the United States.

WildBlue-1, manufactured by Space Systems/Loral, will approximately triple WildBlue's customer capacity, and is expected to handle WildBlue's continuing rapid customer growth into 2008 and beyond. WildBlue-1 is a 4.7 metric ton high power satellite based on Space Systems/Loral's 1300 spacecraft bus and provides Ka-band spot beam capacity over the contiguous United States. Spot beam Ka-band satellites are a key component in WildBlue's low-cost wireless broadband infrastructure. WildBlue currently utilizes the Ka-band spot beam capacity over the United States on Telesat Canada's Anik F2 satellite, which was launched by Arianespace in July 2004.

"WildBlue-1 will help to ensure that we are able to handle 100 percent of customer demand into the foreseeable future," said Dave Leonard, Chief Executive Officer of WildBlue. "Our low-cost, high-speed Internet via satellite service has proven extremely popular nationwide, requiring that we accelerate the launch of our new satellite later this year to meet the demand."

Based on a successful fourth quarter launch, WildBlue will conduct in-orbit testing, and expects to offer service to its customers via the WildBlue-1 satellite in January 2007. WildBlue owns a lifetime lease on Anik F2's Ka-band payload over the U.S. and will continue to use that capacity as well.

"WildBlue-1 has been built to handle a very large capacity of customers," said Jim Elliot, WildBlue's Vice President of Infrastructure. "This satellite uses advanced technology and will enable WildBlue to significantly augment its Ka-band spot beam platform across the U.S."

"Arianespace is pleased to work with WildBlue on the launch of WildBlue-1. Preparations are firmly underway for a successful fourth quarter launch of this year on an Ariane 5," said Jean-Yves Le Gall, President and Chief Executive Officer of Arianespace.

WildBlue also announced it has contracted with Andrew Corporation to build two new spot beam gateways and augment the existing U.S. gateways that WildBlue currently utilizes. In addition, the company has exercised an agreement with Viasat to deliver the equipment necessary to serve the added customers in the additional gateways.

(Space Daily Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Space Systems/Loral (SS/L) has announced that it delivered WildBlue-1 to the Arianespace spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, where it is scheduled for launch in early December. Built for WildBlue Communications small cities, and locations with limited existing broadband infrastructure, the satellite will enable WildBlue to triple its customer capacity in the United States.

We knew Space Systems/Loral had the right combination of experience and technology to provide us with an advanced, high-power satellite, said David Leonard, chief executive officer of WildBlue Communications, Inc. WildBlue-1 will help the company keep pace with our rapidly increasing customer demand. We are confident of the value and reliability that WildBlue will experience from working with the leader in commercial satellite manufacturing.

WildBlue-1 is one of the world's first commercial all Ka-band satellites, which takes advantage of a different portion of the radio spectrum with substantially more capacity than is available in the Ku-band, a more common frequency used for satellite communications. The technically advanced spacecraft is designed to provide fast and affordable two-way wireless Internet access via satellite directly to homes and small offices in communities throughout the contiguous United States where terrestrial broadband access alternatives are either limited or unavailable.

Throughout the WildBlue-1 project, our companies shared a commitment to teamwork and quality, said John Celli, president of Space Systems/Loral. WildBlue is a bellwether for the success of broadband services via satellite. The new satellite delivered demonstrates how an innovative and flexible satellite design, which meets some very unique technical requirements, can continue to broaden the world's ability to communicate.