A Carlsbad, Calif.-based communications company won approval from the Gallatin County Commission last week to build a pair of 34-foot-tall satellite dishes along Love Lane west of Bozeman.
The dishes will be connected to fiber-optic landlines and will provide high-speed data for government and civilian use, the company, ViaSat Inc., wrote in a letter filed with the county.
The new dishes will be built at 5330 Love Lane behind an existing commercial building, architect John M. Banks wrote to the county planning department.
Some details:
- The dishes will be set back 660 feet from Love Lane, 420 feet from the side property line and 505 feet from the rear property line.
- The dishes will be inside a 100-by-150-foot fenced gravel lot that will also contain a 20-by-36-foot equipment shelter and two backup diesel generators.
- Access to the site will be controlled by a rolling gate and security keypad that’s monitored 24 hours a day by a security company.
The property where the dishes will be built is owned by Aim Inc. KBZK reported that Aim’s president, Ron Page, told commissioners Tuesday:
“This certainly seemd like an ideal business, creating four to 10 trips a year with no need for water, no need for sewer and providing the vital Internet infrastructure for all of Gallatin County and rural Montana.”
You may remember ViaSat from the deal it announced in September with JetBlue to provide in-air wi-fi service on the airline’s 160 planes, as the New York Times reported.