Akamai Technologies Inc. [AKAM] of Cambridge, Mass., has announced two major programs to deliver Internet content by satellite – one with Loral Corp. [LOR], the other with Cidera Inc.

Loral CyberStar, the data communications unit of Loral Skynet, and Akamai said they will co-locate Akamai Web servers and Loral CyberStar VSAT earth stations to deliver Akamai’s Internet content “to a minimum of 5,000 Internet service providers and educational institutions around the world.”

Loral CyberStar will provide all ISPs in the Akamai Accelerated Network program with free Usenet newsfeeds. Usenet is the largest network of electronic bulleting boards and discussion forums, and it is doubling in size every year, according to Akamai.

In the agreement between Cidera Inc. of Laurel, Md., and Akami, Cidera said it will deliver Akamai’s content “to a minimum of 1,500 ISP locations across the world.”

Akamai’s spokesman said that Cidera has a strong presence with ISPs in North America, while Loral is particularly strong overseas. There may be some overlap in which ISPs have both Loral Cyberstar and Cidera VSAT dishes, providing redundancy in case of a network failure or satellite anomaly.