New 1-Terabit Internet satellites will deliver high-speed Internet to remote areas

US-based satellite company ViaSat is teaming up with Boeing to create and deliver three new satellites that will deliver high-speed Internet to remote areas around the world. The partnership was announced Feb 9, months before the company is scheduled to launch its previous generation satellite, ViaSat-2, on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The new ViaSat-3 satellites will be capable of much more. Each satellite will carry with it a total network capacity of 1 Terabyte per second (Tbps), about triple what ViaSat-2 is capable of. That will allow ViaSat to deliver 100 Mbps service to remote residential properties in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia.

The company claims that work is already underway on the first two satellites, and that Boeing is already preparing them for launches by the end of 2019. Beyond residential connections, ViaSat says the new satellites will be capable of increasing in-flight connectivity on commercial airlines, business-class jets, and government aircraft. They will also be able to provide 1 Gbps connections to "maritime, oceanic and other corporate enterprise applications such as oil and gas platforms." All told, the company says the three new satellites could deliver twice (or more) the total network capacity of the 400 or so commercial communications satellites currently orbiting the Earth combined.