STANFORD UNIVERSITY
MEDICAL CENTER
PALO ALTO, CALIFORNIA

SCHOOL OF MEDICINE DEPARTMENT OF GENETICS
Professor J. Lederberg, Executive

February 11, 1962
To: Jerry Wiesner, White House

Re: Satellite Communications -- Govt. reservation
of bandwidth for internal technical com-
munications.

Dear Jerry-- Is there still time to make it worth-
while to consider the following suggestion:

The US has invested very large sums in the establish-
ment of satellite technology, on which new high
bandwidth telecommunications will be built. While
policy is still fluid, should not the US reserve

say 30 per cent of the bandwidth for its own internal
communications particularly of a technical nature?

| have in mind the data links that could eventually
revolutionize the dissemination of scientific in-
formation. (And of course | am also thinking of
easing the killing demands on the technical con-
sultants, demands that will be bound to grow with
time.) If we don't plan this now, 20 years from

now, it will still be ''too expensive!’ to link
Stanford with Washington by a video channel, which
will still cost 10,000 an hour at commercial

rates. It seems to me a good way for industry to
"repay'' the US costs in the preliminary development,
which cannot possibly be charged for in monetary
terms if we hope to have any commercial satellite
communications. Besides, if the ''repayment'' were

in monetary terms, it would be of little direct use
to technical communications as such, but be swal lowed
in the budget.

Joshua