New Satelite For Thailand

[Deksan]

Hi,

Well maybe some good news for internet / tv users:

Arianespace will launch during the night 10-11 août, using the launcher Ariane-5, The thai satelite Thaïcom-4, biggest telecom satelite ever made.Thaïcom-4, named at first IPSTAR, weight 6,5 tons. He will be used by the thai company Shin Satellite Inc for internet and multimedia applications.

[bdenner]

From ABC online.

Look who owns it, what a suprise!

Thai satellite to offer Australian bush broadband

A rocket launch from South America has deployed a satellite that its Thai operator says will bring broadband Internet access to the remotest corners of Asia, including rural Australia.

Shin Satellite says the orbiter will deliver high-speed connectivity to Asian villages and Australian outback towns that lie far off fiber-optic cable grids, under a footprint that will stretch from India to China to New Zealand.

The company hopes to serve up to four million people across the region, with its satellite expected to stay operational in orbit for 12 years.

The service area covers 14 countries, with data routed through 18 "gateways", similar to switching stations used in telephone systems, that can be adjusted to improve or weaken the signal, the Shin Satellite spokesman said.

Gateways include Australian outback towns like Broken Hill and Kalgoorlie and major cities like Bangkok and Mumbai.

Worth more than $522 million and weighing in at 6.5 tonnes, the IPSTAR-1 is the world's largest civilian communications satellite, says the company owned by the family of Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

The company sold 8,136 of its special satellite dishes and modems in the second quarter of 2005, against 5,500 for all of 2004, and hopes subscriptions will sky-rocket once the service is up and running.

"With almost 20 times higher bandwidth (45 gigabits per second) than conventional satellites ... the company expects user terminal sales volume will grow exponentially after the launch," Shin Satellite said.

Receivers now sell at about $1,300, but prices are expected to fall to $390 as the number of subscribers pick up.

The satellite, built in the United States by Space Systems/Loral, was launched in French Guyana by European agency Arianespace.

[Khutan]

This in some ways is brilliant. Giving Broadband internet to the remotest places, BUT also breaking monopolies or some very restrictive trade practices in some countries.

[monty]

The sattelite internet is been around a long time already in Thailand (on both Thaicom 1 and 3). Thaicom5 will only expand capacity, but knowing the Shin empire I'm afraid there will be no downward adjustment of prices

[george]

According to CS-Loxinfo who sells the IPstar service in Thailand they will cut the prices later this year.

[monty]

Cutting the prices would be good eventhough I find them reasonable now.

Only thing I would love to see is a serious increase in allowed data traffic!

The 750 mb included in the basic packages (both iptv and ipstar) is really insufficient.

[yuyi]

According to CS-Loxinfo who sells the IPstar service in Thailand they will cut the prices later this year.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

This will be necessary to get more users. I did run away quickly from the current IPstar offers because it includes just a few Megabytes of downloads in the basic price, and then you pay a lot for each additional MB.

There is no use to have a fast connection, if you cannot use it, because the few free MBs you had are used up in three days already, just by doing your email and basic browsing.

I really wish that we get a good offer soon. However Shin is usually not the one lowering the prices without pressure from price competion, as we see at AIS / 1-2-call, which are still much more expensive than DTAC, Orange, Hutch...

[yuyi]

Cutting the prices would be good eventhough I find them reasonable now.

Only thing I would love to see is a serious increase in allowed data traffic!

The 750 mb included in the basic packages (both iptv and ipstar) is really insufficient.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Exactly! 750 Mb is a not enough.