ViaSat

Viasat has made ViaSat-3 F3 capacity available to customers across Asia-Pacific, moving the satellite from commissioning into revenue-generating operations.

Viasat says the reflector and boom on ViaSat-3 F3 have deployed successfully 35,786 kilometres above Earth. That removes one of the mission's most visible mechanical uncertainties and allows in-orbit testing to advance, but Asia-Pacific capacity is not yet an operating service.

The 2022 KA-SAT disruption showed that satellite broadband is not an abstract space asset once it is used for war-zone connectivity, rural internet service, wind-farm operations and government dependency. The satellite itself did not have to be destroyed for the service to fail. A management-plane compromise, damaged modems and cross-border customer dependence were enough to turn a commercial network incident into a public-sector continuity and transit accountability case.

Ofcom proposes extending Viasat and EchoStar’s 2GHz MSS licences while the UK weighs EU policy and NTN market shifts.

The Commission shapes European telecommunications, satellite communications and digital sovereignty strategy.

The partners have moved their shared direct-to-device satellite project towards company formation and constellation procurement, backed by up to $1 billion in founder funding.