WASHINGTON -- The broadband sector may be in its infancy, but industry executives agree on one thing: Consumers have a ravenous appetite for this growing market.

"The demand (for broadband) is there," said Ken Medlin, vice president and general manager of Boeing Commercial Information Systems at Boeing. “But it is still not available in major metropolitan areas because we don’t have the money for the service.

Others agreed, saying that it was just a matter of time before market demand drives growth in the sector.

"When people have access to broadband, they like it," said Bob Berry, chairman of Space Systems/Loral. "They tend to surf the Internet more than watch television or listen to the radio."

At a panel of the International Space Symposium here in the nation’s capitol, Berry asked for a show of hands for how many have access to the high-speed internet at home. About a handful of people out of a few hundred raised their hands.