Data goes two ways with New Skies service

By RICHARD WOOD

Dutch satellite operator New Skies Satellites expects to sell new two-way data services to broadcasters, telcos, internet providers and direct to businesses.

A satellite with 10 years' life left was being "drifted" across space to service the Asia/Pacific region and would be operational by late August, replacing a 15-year-old satellite of lower capacity.

Sydney chief executive of subsidiary New Skies Networks, Maureen Murphy, said the company was just in time to meet demand for rural internet access for which funding was announced in the Budget.

She said New Skies had been planning the service for six months, working behind the scenes with businesses. However, no deals had been struck yet beyond its existing capacity deals with TVNZ.

Murphy said the satellite would cover all of New Zealand with two-way high-speed service from 128Kbps to 2Mbps using small antennas. Capacity would also be sold on a wholesale basis up to 45Mbps.

She said the satellite had a number of spot beams that were capable of delivering high-powered services, making it suitable for high-speed internet, direct to enterprise services, and also for direct home-pay television.