Vanguard Magazine

satCom 42 APRIL/MAY 2018 www.vanguardcanada.com S itting in front of your televi- sion watching The National or an episode from The Detectives, you may not realize that the communications system that makes possible CBC's broadcast is from a Canadian company, which started with just one man in late 2001. As with many successful global companies that began with one individual, Brent Per- rott, at the turn of the 21st century, noticed a niche in the satellite market that was not being satisfied. Back then, he observed that many companies lacked a dedicated staff to analyze and procure satellite capacity. "This caused companies to make decisions that were not as optimal or competitive as they should have been," Perrott said. With this mindset, he founded Hunter Commu- nications to fill that need. For the first two years, Perrott was the sole employee, but the business grew over the years to become the global presence it is today. As the president and founder of Hunter Communications, Brent Perrott spearheads his company in providing satellite commu- nications services to government contrac- tors, enterprise and telephone companies for mobile, and remote voice and Internet connectivity. In 2015, Perrott's company launched the Hunter Canada Ku-beam, a new Ku-band payload on the E115WB satellite, which is one of more than 2,000 communications satellites that are encircling the Earth pro- viding means of communication for both private and public sector organizations. Satellites play a critical part in the com- munications infrastructure in television, telephone, radio, Internet and military applications. The Hunter Canada Ku-beam is posi- tioned at the center of the Canadian or- bital arc and delivers the highest-powered coverage over Canada and the surround- ing waters, according to Perrott. He ex- plained further that the new satellite beam uses the latest technology and provides between a three- to-four-fold increase in power or signal strength as compared to the nearest competitor. With its new satel- lite, Hunter is "offering better, far-reach- ing service capability at a lower price." Based on these factors, Hunter Commu- nications was awarded a 7-year contract in February this year, to provide Satellite Space Segment Services to CBC/Radio- Canada. By utilizing the Hunter Canada Ku-beam and a C-band beam with its partner Intelsat, CBC/Radio-Canada has more transmission throughput and the ability to use smaller antennas that are eas- ier to move to remote transmission sites. "This satellite capacity is a critical com- ponent of CBC's infrastructure," said Perrott. "Our satellite beam is being used to distribute the CBC's audio and video signals across all of Canada. It is the back- bone to ensure all Canadians receive their national programming." Through this service, the broadcast signals and bi-direc- tional IP communication services of CBC are being transmitted on the 54 MHz Ku-band and 36 MHz C-band capacity. This complements CBC's terrestrial fibre network and further supports its North American and foreign bureaus. One example of how the Hunter Ku- band beam is delivering higher power is in Inuvik – a town with a population of just over 3,000 in the Northwest Territories of Canada. Perrott explained that there the Ku-band beam offers three times as much power than the capacity that CBC was using previously. "The emphasis is on concentrating more power towards the North. With most satellite coverage being focused on the U.S., with Canada being an afterthought, this service provides a so- lution to that issue." Perrott added that for the CBC, this pri- marily is a solution that revolves around higher signal strength and a lower cost. "For CBC, the satellite infrastructure to broadcast the signal to all Canadians is critical, but the real benefit is that every dollar they save on their satellite costs translates to a dollar they will use to de- liver more and better content to Canadi- ans," he said. The Hunter Ku-beam also has several key technical advantages for other indus- SATCOM: CbC entrusts hunter to deliVer its Content by marCello sukhdeo

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