Astrolink International LLC is currently embarking on a project to develop a satellite internet service which will contribute to decreasing the costs of telephone calls for companies and individual users by 70 to 80 percent.
The Emirate newspaper Ittihad cited the company’s regional manager, Scot Sabhani, as saying at a conference held Wednesday that a satellite internet service has many advantages over traditional telecommunications which face the problems of space limitation, rain impact, bad weather in addition to the difficulties encountered by the DS digital lines. Telecommunication sites are also very high; the cost of one site was said to be three million dollars, he was quoted as saying.
Astrolink is scheduled to complete its preparations in the year 2003 through launching a number of satellites which will have global coverage, said the report. Sabhani said that Astrolink is at least two years ahead of other companies that might shift their activities into this field.
In a press release issued late October, the company said that it had signed a a contract with ViaSat Inc. under which the latter would develop and manufacture next generation, broadband, two-way Ka-band satellite terminals for use with the Astrolink system. The initial contract commitment includes the development, integration and testing of pre-production terminals and the delivery of production terminals to support Astrolink's service beginning in 2003, the release said – Albawba.com
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