Low population density in many areas and harsh terrain in certain regions of North America pose economic and logistical barriers to the expansion of advanced terrestrial facilities and technologies required to support broadband services. Noting a quintessential role for communications satellite systems is to extend the reach of the Internet and interactive multimedia services to areas un-served or under-served by terrestrial networks, an advanced high-capacity dedicated bentpipe Ka-band satellite architecture is proposed. The proposed broadband satellite system can provide a large user base across North America with attractive terminals, in terms of size, cost, throughput and performance, as well as with low access, subscription and usage fees