Verizon VSATs The USPS

Verizon Business will provide a new custom satellite network to the U.S. Postal Service (USPS). The network will provide reliability and cost-effective delivery of voice and high-speed data to areas where wireline or wireless access is unavailable or too costly. Formerly known as a VSAT (Very Small Aperture Terminal) satellite system, point-to-point communications for about 5,000 Postal Service sites in the continental United States, Hawaii, Alaska and Puerto Rico, and backup connectivity for a number of larger USPS sites, will be available. More than 20 mobile satellite communications kits for the U.S. Postal Inspection Service’s incident response vehicles will also be included. Verizon Business is providing the service in conjunction with Spacenet, a satellite network services company.




Verizon Business is deploying the Postal Service’s satellite network under a new two-year contract valued at $25 million and known as ORB-IT (outer space radio broadcast information technology). The contract also has an option for three two-year extensions. Verizon Business and Spacenet will provide both full-time broadband satellite data services as well as on-demand connectivity for on-the-go communications. A wide range of customer applications will be supported. These include video relay service (VRS) for deaf and hard-of-hearing USPS employees, multicast file delivery, real-time video broadcasting, routine data transport, and voice-over-Internet-protocol (VoIP) services. This new satellite network will provide primary connectivity for smaller, more rural USPS facilities that have a limited support staff. Postal Service demands for continuity of operations will be supported by regionally pre-positioning emergency mobile VSAT kits intended for rapid deployment to USPS facilities should they lose terrestrial voice and data service because of natural or man made disasters. Installation of the sites is under way, and all sites are expected to be operational by later this fall—Basking Ridge, New Jersey