During 2011, Orbitel made many exciting enhancements to its product offerings. On May 1, 2011, Orbitel restructured its video service packages, expanding the number of channels available in all categories and providing greater ease for our customers to access HD programming. As part of these changes, Orbitel made HD programming FREE. These exciting changes brought several new channels to our customers and made access to the popular Digital Video Recorders and premium movie services available at our expanded level of programming for the first time. In September 2011, Orbitel concluded its city wide upgrade of its high speed data network making the entire system Docsis 3.0 certified. While this major investment will allow Orbitel to introduce wideband internet speed services of 50Mbps or greater, the benefit to all internet customers is seen in reduced congestion at peak usage times.

As a direct benefit to our customers of the internet upgrade, Orbitel is excited to announce that effective February 1, 2012 Orbitel will upgrade its popular 9Mbps internet service to 12Mbps! Also during 2012, Orbitel plans to launch, what it believes will be, the fastest residential internet offering in the state of Arizona. Orbitel will also be launching a new IP video stream on demand service that will allow our customers to access a library of content containing thousands of movies on demand with hundreds of new releases each month. Look for these exciting changes sometime in the first half of the year.

In late 2011, Orbitel concluded its negotiations with local broadcast TV stations to secure continued carriage of their services for 2012 and beyond. This process, known as retransmission consent, requires cable and satellite providers to negotiate with local broadcasters to provide compensation to obtain the right to distribute content that is transmitted by the broadcasters for ‘free’ off-the-air. Because the local TV stations have market exclusivity for their network content, the negotiations tend to favor the broadcasters who make outrageous demands for payment. While Orbitel is pleased to announce that its has successfully secured continued carriage of all the services it currently carries, these agreements have not come without significant increases in Orbitel’s programming costs to provide these channels. Orbitel is not alone in this regard as cable and satellite providers across the United States find themselves in similar situations.

Effective February 1, 2012, Orbitel will be adjusting the retail rates it charges for its services. Retail Basic Cable TV, Expanded Cable TV and Internet services will each increase by $2 per month while Digital Cable TV and premium movie services will increase by $1 each per month. Orbitel’s packaged rates will increase $3 per month for any package that includes Expanded Cable TV and $4 per month if the package includes Digital Cable TV which makes the value of bundling services greater now than it has ever been before. Rates for equipment rental and phone services will not change.

Orbitel appreciates the impact that any change in its rates has on its customers. 93% of our customers will see an increase in their monthly Orbitel bill of less than $5 per month with 62% of our customers seeing an increase of less than $3 per month

All rate changes will be reflected in your next Orbitel bill which will arrive on or before February 1, 2012. If you have questions about these changes, our staff will be glad to speak with you about your rates and how these changes may or may not affect you. To contact a local customer service representative, call (520) 568-8890 Monday – Saturday from 8am – 5pm. As always, we appreciate your business. We look forward to continuing to serve you as we expand our products and services in Maricopa in the years to come.