spacetoday.net: Startup company announces broadband satellite system

Posted: Wed, Sep 10, 2008, 8:21 AM ET (1221 GMT)
O3b satellite illustration (O3b)

A new company, in partnership with three major firms, announced Tuesday plans to deploy a satellite system to provide broadband access to underserved regions of the glove. O3b Networks said it is developing a constellation of 16 satellites that will operate in an equatorial orbit about 8,000 kilometers high. The satellites will operate at Ka-band frequencies and work with terrestrial wireless networks to provide broadband data services to people between latitudes of 40 degrees north and south. The primary focus of the company is to provide service to regions of the world, such as Africa, with few other options for broadband Internet access; the company's name is derived from the term "other 3 billion". O3b plans to have the system ready to enter service by late 2010. The satellites are being built by Thales Alenia Space and O3b is receiving financial and operational support from Google, HSBC, and Liberty Global.