Satellite broadband provider WildBlue (WB) has hit a snag in its ...
Satellite broadband provider WildBlue (WB) has hit a snag in its plan to provide 25 million rural households Internet access beginning in 2005. The company, backed by Telesat Canada and the National Rural Telecom Cooperative, told the FCC Mon.…
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that despite completion of its first satellite and attainment of a launch contract with Arianespace, its bird must stay grounded for now. “Remaining uncertainty” has precluded WB from securing a launch date that would meet an FCC milestone, justifying a request for an 18-month extension, officials said. Final testing of WildBlue-1 revealed defects that manufacturer Space Systems/Loral (SS/L) is expected to fix before the March 2005 deadline. However, the spacecraft has a design similar to Intelsat’s Americas-7 that recently suffered a malfunction in orbit and was almost lost entirely (CD Dec 2 p13, Nov 30 p3). WB said SS/L is reviewing the IA-7 case to determine what, if any, design changes should be made to satellites under construction to reduce the chance of similar problems. SS/L’s review is in its “most preliminary stage,” and there’s no way to know when the review will be completed, WB said. The company asked the FCC for a milestone extension to Dec. 25, 2006.