The Divide: What Viasat's Evan Dixon wants DC to know about satellite broadband

This week on the podcast, we hear from Evan Dixon, president of global fixed broadband at Viasat, a longtime provider of satellite Internet services to homes and businesses, as well as for government services and in-flight Wi-Fi.

We discuss the company's goal of providing affordable Internet service to people in hard-to-reach places for terrestrial options in the US and abroad, including with Viasat's "community Internet" initiative, which has helped to connect 100,000 monthly users in Mexico with a pay-per-session model.

We also talk about Viasat's forthcoming ViaSat-3 satellite and what it means for connectivity. And we get into the critiques of satellite Internet, particularly when it comes to receiving US government funding to build broadband out to the remaining underserved areas of the country.

"Whenever we have discussions in Washington ... they'll say, 'how long will it take you to serve my community?'" says Dixon. "Tomorrow. Our satellites are already up in the air. In less than a couple hours, we can install Internet with Wi-Fi across an entire town. We can do that immediately.

"We are not having to dig trenches, rip up roads, hedges, etc." he says. "So it's a message that we continue to try to hammer home to Washington."

Related episodes:

• The Divide: Hughes' Paul Gaske on upping speeds with a 'massive new satellite'
• The Divide: New map shows 60M Americans lack Internet

— Nicole Ferraro, contributing editor and host of "The Divide" and "What's the Story?" Light Reading