[nitinics]

Looks like they use Ka band [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O3b_%28satellite%29 ]. Wonder what were the factors of not choosing the Ku band. As far as I know Ku band is more cost effective and less susceptible to rain fade and such.

[icw]

Much faster data rates I suspect - you can spend some of that on forward error correction to compensate for rain fade.