[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 142 (Saturday, August 7, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6010-S6011]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            MORNING BUSINESS

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                RESIDENTIAL SATELLITE BROADBAND SERVICE

  Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, my State of Maryland has a proud history 
of innovation in satellite technology and space exploration. Greenbelt, 
MD, is home to Goddard, the National Aeronautics and Space 
Administration's first Space Flight Center Space Flight Center. The 
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which operates a fleet 
of weather satellites, has its headquarters in Silver Spring. 
Additionally, the largest provider of residential satellite broadband 
service, Hughes Network Systems, is headquartered in Germantown. Hughes 
serves consumers in some of the most rural, hard-to-reach areas of the 
country.
  As the Senate considers the bipartisan infrastructure bill, I believe 
there is broad agreement that the broadband deployment grants 
established by the bill and administered by the Department of Commerce 
would help bring broadband service to unserved and underserved 
households in some of the most rural areas in the U.S. I also believe 
that satellite technology can and should be one of the technological 
options for achieving our broadband deployment goals. Because a geo-
stationary satellite orbits at 22,500 miles above earth, however, even 
signals traveling at the speed of light take a split-second longer to 
reach their destination, causing ``latency''--or delay--in real-time 
broadband applications. Fortunately, satellite innovators in Maryland 
and elsewhere have designed measures to reduce latency by using a mix 
of communications platforms, including low-earth orbit satellites and 
fixed wireless networks.
  I believe that where the broadband grants provision in division F, 
title I of the infrastructure bill establishes a ``real-time, 
interactive'' standard for permissible latency, residential satellite 
broadband service providers may meet this standard by offering a hybrid 
mix of geostationary and nongeostationary satellite networks or fixed

[[Page S6011]]

wireless networks. I look forward to working with Senator Cantwell in 
her capacity as chair of the Senate Commerce Committee, Commerce 
Secretary Raimondo, and the National Telecommunications and Information 
Administration on this important issue.

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