The scheduled launch of ViaSat’s new $625 million Internet satellite has been delayed because of civil unrest in French Guiana, the Carlsbad company confirmed Monday.

A new date for blast off – previously slated for April 25 from the Guiana Space Center – has not been determined, said Christina Phillips, spokeswoman for the satellite Internet provider.

ViaSat personnel have returned to Carlsbad from French Guiana – a territory located on the northeast coast of South America. Because of the sensitive nature of the situation, the company didn’t provide further details. But Phillips said the ViaSat-2 satellite is secure.

“We fully expect the French authorities will work toward a peaceful resolution with local protesters, enabling all satellite providers preparing for satellite launches from the Guiana Space Center the ability to launch within a reasonable time frame,” said Phillips.


A general strike and demonstrations in French Guiana boiled over about a week ago, with schools and businesses closed, flights halted and roads blocked. The U.S. State Department issued a travel alert.

Protesters are angry over growing crime, high unemployment and rising costs of living. France offered $1.07 billion U.S. in aid, but protest leaders say the country of 250,000 people needs $2.7 billion to remedy problems created by years of neglect.

French rocket outfit Arianespace won the contract to launch Viasat-2. The protests grounded Arianespace’s planned launch of communications satellites from Brazil and South Korea last week. That pushed back scheduled blast off dates for other satellites in the pipeline.

The delay puts ViaSat further behind its top competitor for satellite Internet, HughesNet.


HughesNet launched its Jupiter-2 high bandwidth satellite in December. It expects to begin offering faster speeds and higher data caps for subscribers this spring.

Even with the delay, ViaSat believes it can offer faster speeds and hefty data usage allowances to subscribers from ViaSat-2 before the end of this year.

B. Riley Analyst Michael Crawford said there is plenty of demand for faster satellite Internet. So the launch delay shouldn’t hinder ViaSat in signing up subscribers as long as it doesn’t last too long.

“The market, I believe, is big,” he said. “It is just a matter of when ViaSat will be able to put this new capacity online and start providing service.”


Boeing, which built ViaSat-2 satellite, evacuated 43 employees and service providers from French Guiana on March 27, bringing them back to the U.S., according to a spokeswoman Joanna Climer.

In addition to ViaSat-2, Boeing constructed at least one other communications satellite that was slated for launch this month from French Guiana.

ViaSat broke into the satellite Internet business in 2011 with the launch of ViaSat-1, which is now full with around 700,000 Internet subscribers. The satellite also powers fast in-flight Wi-Fi service for JetBlue, American Airlines and other commercial carriers.

At around 300 gigabits per second capacity, ViaSat-2 has twice the bandwidth of ViaSat-1. The added horsepower aims to enable faster speeds and bulked up monthly data allowances so subscribers can watch more online video.


The new satellite also expands ViaSat’s geographic coverage footprint beyond North America and into Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean, as well as parts of South America and over the Atlantic Ocean.

ViaSat shares ended trading Monday down 61 cents at $63.21 on the Nasdaq exchange.

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