Light Reading Podcasts

On this episode, we hear from Paul Gaske, EVP and general manager for HughesNet in North America, which operates the largest satellite broadband network in the US. Hughes primarily connects rural areas of the country that are either unserved or still stuck with technologies like DSL or even dial-up. While Gaske says current Hughes speeds meet the FCC standard of 25/3 Mbit/s, he adds that the company is in the midst of a $600 million capital build of a "massive new satellite" that will allow Hughes to offer plans at 100 Mbit/s and 50 Mbit/s starting next year. With that in mind, Gaske also rebuffs the critique that satellite Internet is not "future proofed." "I think that the notion of future proofing just because you haul fiber around is quaint," he says. "The technology at both ends of that fiber has to change constantly for you to be future proofed. And that's the next proposition." We discuss the role of satellite broadband in closing the digital divide and Hughes' plans to meet demand for higher bandwidth and lower latency, as well as the company's recent announcement that it will participate in the FCC's Emergency Broadband Benefit program, making it the only national satellite provider to do so thus far.