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The domsats do promise big savings for business data-transmission and telephone users, though. Messages on terrestrial microwave systems can go only as far as the horizon, where a "repeater" tower jumps them to the next tower. To send a message from coast to coast takes about 100 repeaters, each of which involves heavy capital investment. Similarly costly equipment is needed to transmit messages via long land cables. A domsat replaces repeaters and most other relaying devices. Though each satellite costs about $20 million to launch, operating costs are so low that Western Union and RCA are filing rates from 25% to 50% below prevailing rates.
Ghostly Echo. A private terrestrial link from New York to Los Angeles costs $2,207.25 per month; satellite transmission will do the job for only $1,120. To meet the competition in the heavens, AT&T has already asked the FCC to approve new, mostly lower rates for its service on the ground. The proposed charge for private lines between major metropolitan areas will drop sharply, though costs of private lines to less busy areas would increase.
The rise of domsats will hardly be noticed by the average person. TV reception will not get better or worse, nor will rates for most conventional phone calls change. Even the person talking over a private business line will have only one way of knowing whether his call is going by satellite or a ground facility. Domsat communications sometimes produce a ghostly echo—a real message from outer space.
* Other communications satellites belong to Russia, Canada and an international consortium (INTELSAT) that includes the U.S.'s COMSAT and transmits international signals.