This Canadian ANIK-F2 is now in orbit after an Arianespace popped it up Friday from it's spaceport in French Guiana.
It's designed to bring high speed internet access to remote parts of Canada (but will probably cover all of North America). The receiving gear is $500 and monthly fee is around $60 (cdn).
"Previously, you'd have to spend at least a couple hundred dollars a month to get high-speed access to your cottage or rural business. Bush estimates Telesat's consumer high-speed Internet service, which will be sold through a distribution network yet to be announced (but likely to include Bell Canada), will cost only 5 to 10 per cent more than what Torontonians pay for high-speed services from Sympatico and Rogers.
This single bird, fixed in space, will let Ottawa attain its goal of bringing broadband Internet access to every community in Canada. But let's not kid ourselves. When the service is officially switched on this fall, the biggest group to benefit from Anik F2's ubiquitous broadband coverage will be baby boomers who are fleeing our cities en masse and cocooning themselves in rural homes and upscale cottages" Link.
and CBC has a story here.
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