Dataquest says satellite broadband will surge by 2005
[InfoWorld]
URL of my source: e-topics.com
InfoWorld via NewsEdge Corporation : WHILE CABLE Internet and DSL installation
has yet to take off in the consumer market, analysts predict satellite broadband
connections will soar skyward over the next four years.
High-tech market analysis firm Dataquest, in San Jose, Calif., forecasted in a study that
the number of satellite terminals in the world's three major economic regions will
increase from an installed base of 293,500 terminals last year to 7.2 million terminals in
2005. Most existing terminals are in North America now, with the remainder in Europe
and the Asia-Pacific region.
"I think that fundamentally, we're going to see growth in all areas of broadband," said
Patti Reali, a senior analyst for Dataquest. "I also think that cable and DSL [aren't] going
to be able to reach everywhere."
While cable is the best buy per kilobit for customers in residential areas, Reali said, it
may not be profitable for land-based broadband providers to lay cable or optical fiber in
areas with low population density. Satellite broadband may be the only way for folks in
the middle of nowhere to get fast downloads.
"There will be a lot of parallels with adoption of digital satellite for television, like
DirecTV and EchoStar, " she said. "All the early adopters were rural. It's the density per
mile that counts."
Current satellite services allow customers to receive and send data at speeds similar to
DSL. The StarBand service touts download speeds of up to 500Kbps and uploads at
150Kbps, while Hughes Network Systems' DirecPC service promises downloads of up to
400Kbps and uploads of 125Kbps.
Hardware and installation for either service is about $600, and service charges tend to be
slightly more expensive than either cable or DSL service.
Most terminals are in the consumer market, but Dataquest, a unit of Gartner Group,
expects both the business and consumer markets to have similar growth rates over the
next five years. By 2005, analysts expect North America to account for 54 percent of all
satellite broadband access terminals, with Europe and the Asia-Pacific region
accounting for 30 percent and 16 percent respectively.
George A. Chidi Jr. is a correspondent with the IDG News Service, an InfoWorld
affiliate. |
