[Satellite TODAY 06-04-10] Canadian rural broadband provider Barrett Xplore has elected to exercise its maximum option of 100 percent capacity usage on Loral‘s ViaSat-1 broadband satellite payload, the company announced June 4.
    Barrett Xplore will use the Loral capacity, which provides throughput of about 12 Gbps, to deliver future bandwidth-rich Internet applications.
    Loral will receive lease payments of about $250 million over the life of the satellite for use of its geostationary capacity over Canada. Loral agreed to invest in the Canadian payload on ViaSat-1, a high-throughput, next-generation broadband satellite, when it was procured in early 2008. The satellite is currently under construction at Space Systems/Loral and is scheduled to begin service in mid-2011.
    “ViaSat-1’s spot beam design and high capacity Ka-band transponders will help us meet our commitment to providing high-quality broadband service to rural Canadians. This satellite capacity is an integral part of the hybrid-technology strategy we are taking to maximize the availability of our services across Canada,” Barrett Xplore CEO John Maduri said in a statement.