TWO WAY INTERNET VIA SATELLITE SERVICE ON W3

The number of two-way broadband Internet via satellite services keeps growing, with the latest new entrant being Galaxy 2000, operated by UK-based dealer Bentley Walker. The service which was recently presented at Cable & Satellite Mediacast in London, targets professional business clients in Europe, Africa and the Middle East, and in particular in areas with poor technical infrastructure. Galaxy 2000 uses a full transponder on Eutelsat’s W3 satellite at 7 degrees East, with the downstream operating at 1 MBit/s and the return channel at 128 kBit/s. The service costs $250 (E295.3) per month, which includes 500 MB transfer volume in the downstream and 50 MB in the upstream. Additional transfer capacity is charged on a per-volume basis. The complete hardware, which includes the VSAT uplink facility and a set-top-box manufactured by US-based company Hughes, is sold for $2.600.

According to a Bentley Walker spokesman, more than 200 customers for the service, which is already operating, have been secured to date. To extend the footprint, it is planned to offer Galaxy 2000 on an Arabsat satellite in the future. Further details can be obtained from Bentley Walker, telephone +44-23-9246 3943, fax +44-23-9246 1465, e-mail [email protected].