Hughes’ EchoStar 19 satellite, scheduled to launch in 2016, will have a similar configuration to that of the EchoStar 17 (above). Photo: Hughes

[Via Satellite 05-14-2014] Xplornet Communications, Canada’s largest rural broadband provider, has committed to lifetime satellite broadband capacity with Hughes on the EchoStar 19 satellite, which is scheduled to launch in mid-2016. Xplornet has also agreed to the delivery of satellite gateways, operational and support services and consumer user terminals from Hughes, with a combined net worth of the program totaling more than $200 million.

“This capacity will enable us to continue to meet the growing demands of our rural customers,” said Allison Lenahan, CEO of Xplornet. “We are investing to deliver on the promise of making faster, more affordable high-speed Internet service available for every Canadian.”

The EchoStar 19, manufactured by Space Systems Loral (SSL), will have more than 160 Gbps of throughput and is being designed with more than 120 spot beams. This next generation architecture is built to deliver higher quality, faster speed services with a design life of at least 15 years.