ViaSat-3, Two O3b mPower Satellites Launched

Viasat's ViaSat-3 high-throughput satellite serving the Americas launched Sunday on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Viasat said Monday. It said the satellite should reach its geostationary orbital slot in under three weeks. CEO Mark Dankberg said the satellite "will multiply our available bandwidth, and enable faster speeds and more coverage especially for our mobility customers." SES's O3b said Friday its third and fourth medium-orbit mPower satellites launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9. It said mPower commercial service is expected to begin in Q3. William Blair's Louie DiPalma said in a note to investors long ViaSat-3 delays have "taken a toll on ViaSat’s residential business' though the satellite should enable Viasat to offer faster residential downlink speeds and higher monthly data caps and potentially even eliminate data caps altogether in some areas. However, it might not be enough to overcome residential broadband competition from SpaceX and Amazon's Kuiper and fixed airless cellular providers, he said.