WildBlue Communications, the half-billion-dollar attempt to provide affordable satellite-based broadband to rural America (and even to metropolitan areas where broadband coverage isn’t total) has set a $49.95 starting price for its service – making good on its promise to come to market early next year with pricing “to make affordable broadband internet access available to everyone.” In any case, WildBlue’s prices reportedly are far more attractive than those offered by satellite broadband service DirecWay.

The Colorado-based company, which launched its first satellite July 17, also says that preliminary internal tests of its system are positive, and no glitches have been found that would cause it to delay commercial launch. WildBlue last week also disclosed a list of three “key vendors” that have landed contracts to build out the back office for its service.

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