[Satellite TODAY 03-04-11] ViaSat is expanding its Ku-band international mobility coverage to include Ka-band and support the growth of its in-flight Yonder mobile broadband network service, the company announced March 3.
    ViaSat and YahSat subsidiary Star Satellite Communications restructured their October 2009 services agreement to make Yahsat Y1B Ka-band bandwidth available for Yonder subscribers. The move follows ViaSat’s partnership agreement with JetBlue, signed in September, to deploy the first Ka-band commercial aviation broadband network, based on ViaSat’s ArcLight system, using the ViaSat-1 satellite.
    “We believe that broadband mobility will be a leading application for Ka-band bandwidth in the Middle East and welcome Yahsat Y1B as a very valuable portion of our global Yonder network. We expect this agreement to make the extensive Yahsat network of Ka-band coverage accessible to our rapidly growing network of aviation, maritime, and government Yonder global mobile subscribers in the region,” ViaSat Vice President and General Manager Paul Baca said in a statement.