New ViaSat Terminal Promises Fivefold Boost in Connection Rates

Inflight connectivity provider ViaSat announced a new advanced compact terminal that it says will deliver connection speeds that are five times faster than most current satcom services, along with competitive pricing plans. The Ka-band Global Aero Terminal 5510, announced this week at NBAA 2016, includes ViaSat’s mobile airborne antenna, an integrated modem and an advanced power supply. It will be available from mid-2017, allowing business aircraft operators to have high-speed Internet access of up to 16 Mbps across the U.S., transatlantic and European air routes.

According to the California-based company, the performance of the new terminal has been built on more than eight years experience of providing Ka-band and Ku-band connections, and the fourth-generation antenna can connect to the most powerful available satellites. The compact antenna only requires a single slot in an aircraft radome, compared with the usual two. The system has been designed to work with the current ViaSat-1 class satellites, as well as with the pending ViaSat-2 and ViaSat-3 platforms.

ViaSat data plans offer up between 30 and 100 GB per month. The monthly cost of the Ultra30, Ultra40, Ultra60 and Ultra100 plans, range in price from $6,995 to $24,995.

Early customers will begin receiving the first of the new shipsets in the second quarter of next year. Data plans, which will be available through ViaSat’s Ka-band resellers, will be available from the middle of next year, with introductory pricing on offer through 2018.