A new MCI satellite broadband service, aimed at companies with branches in areas where DSL (digital subscriber line) service is not available, will be commercially available in March, the company announced Wednesday.The new satellite service, called MCI Internet Broadband Satellite Corporate, will be an addition to a slower existing satellite service MCI now offers.MCI, still officially known as WorldCom Inc., also announced Wednesday that CSX Technology Inc., the technology subsidiary of CSX Corp., will deploy the new MCI satellite service at 200 or more remote locations across the company’s rail network in the eastern U.S. “We needed a ubiquitous communications solution that was able to connect our remote locations back to the corporate network,” Tom Blady, assistant vice president for communication solutions at CSX Technology, said in a press release. About 20 other companies are currently testing the MCI satellite service, offered through satellite service provider Tachyon Networks Inc., said Ralph Montfort, MCI’s director of Internet access products.MCI is pitching the satellite service as a third option to DSL or T1 Internet service. Companies that have branches too far away from their local phone offices may find the service attractive, but companies and government agencies running mission critical applications over the Internet may see the satellite service as an attractive backup to their wired networks, Montfort said.Companies or government agencies that need to get Internet access away from office locations could also put up a satellite antenna in a corn field and receive a DSL-speed connection, he added. “Whatever broadband access you need … we can give you a broadband solution,” Montfort said. “This is comparable to DSL bandwidth.”The satellite service will offer connection speeds of between 128k bps (bits per second) and 384k bps for mid-range service and up to 1M bps for high-end service, compared to the existing MCI satellite service that topped out around 128k bps, according to MCI. It will also allow companies to run virtual private networks. The service will be priced between MCI’s business-class DSL, about $200 a month, and its T1 service, about $550 a month, Montfort said.With the addition of the Tachyon Networks satellite service, MCI will be able to provide broadband satellite services in the continental U.S., Hawaii, Alaska, Mexico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Guatemala and Canada. Technology Industry