ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the satellite services and earth station equipment that are available in the marketplace. The businesses of supplying these services and equipments are dynamic, and directories of suppliers are subject to frequent change. Satellite services, that is, the right to use a satellite transponder, can be leased or purchased from a satellite carrier or from a resale carrier. The satellite communications industry is unregulated, and both satellite and resale carriers have responded to this highly competitive environment by offering satellite services under a wide variety of terms and conditions. They include different grades of service, periods of service, and scope of service. This includes the choice of leasing or buying either a complete satellite, a complete transponder, or a partial transponder. Three grades of satellite services are offered—protected, unprotected, and preemptible. The scope of service offerings is broad, ranging from a portion of a transponder to a complete transponder with uplink and downlink service.
