StarBand Rebrand

[Nick]

StarBand 'Nova' Goes for "High End"

They may not get the attention that cable modems and DSL services have drawn on Wall Street of late, but satellite broadband services are alive and kicking. Such is the implication of today's news that sat broadband service provider StarBand is relaunching itself as a top end product for the SOHO market.

The new StarBand Nova service announcement comes just 18 months after StarBand was acquired by Spacenet, a subsidiary of Gilat. According to Spacenet Executive Director of Consumer and Small Office Business Steve D'Argenio, new technology forms a key component of StarBand Nova service.

"We've switched to a new hardware platform which is the Gilat Skyedge VSAT, the same VSAT used for enterprise services," he says. With that new hardware in place, the company "will be able to demonstrate a higher reliability, more industrial strength service."

Available in two flavors (StarBand Nova Pro and StarBand Nova Ultimate) the service will have monthly charges of $49.99 and $129.99 respectively, with download speeds as high as 1024 Kbps, and upload speeds to 256 Kbps. Equipment costs for the Nova service have been reduced to a suggested retail price of $299 - down from the $699 typically charged for previous StarBand equipment.

In positioning the new service as the high end provider, D'Argenio said StarBand does not need to target the mass market thanks to leased (as opposed to owned) satellite space. "The other guys have to fill their transponders," the executive said. "We don't have that kind of financial pressure on us. We can grow at a measured pace."

www.SkyReport.com - used with permission

[Nick]

Improved commissions structure, help desk sweeten pot for dealers

From SkyRetailer:

StarBand leapt out of the box today with a new brand, new hardware and new dealer incentives on its just-announced StarBand Nova service. In a nutshell, StarBand Nova has launched with Gilat Skyedge= hardware, the same equipment offered by StarBand parent Spacenet to its enterprise customers. The price of the hardware has been reduced to $299 MSRP; speeds on the new service go as high as 1024 Kbps downloads and 256 Kbps uploads (for the StarBand Nova Ultimate); and monthly service costs are $49.99 for the StarBand Nova Pro and $129.99 for the Ultimate.

Since StarBand relies on its retailer dealers for sales, the retail pot has been sweetened as well. Says Spacenet Executive Director of Consumer and Small Office Business, "We're offering two commission structures to our dealers. One is the current structure which is 20 percent of the monthly recurring revenue rate. With Nova, we're also offering a $150 upfront payment plus 5 percent (of the monthly recurring revenue) for the life of the customer." In addition, D'Argenio notes, "We let our dealers set their own installation cost."

The StarBand Nova also features a help desk tool which allows dealers to easily access customer information and the company is supporting a dealer passport service which assigns a personal account manager to each dealer. "This support," says D'Argenio, "should allow for much quicker installations." For more information on the StarBand Nova service, and scheduled training sessions, please go to: http://www.starband.com.

www.SkyRetailer.com - used with permission