Those in charge of making broadband internet available to all UK residents are overlooking satellite broadband as a feasible solution for those in rural areas, a leading provider of satellite broadband services has claimed.
The UK government has set a target for all homes and businesses in the country to have access to broadband services with a minimum speed of 2Mbps by 2015, but it is becoming apparent that service providers and local authorities are having trouble making the £530 million budget stretch far enough. The government is also planning to auction off 4G mobile bandwidth this year, which it hopes will reduce the current shortfall but in areas where it has been deemed that installing fibre optic cabling would not be economically viable, alternative solutions may be required to plug any gaps in service.
Although this issue is common knowledge, satellite providers claim that the technology they are using is being consistently overlooked as local projects focus on cable roll outs by large telecom companies.
Chris O’Dell, vice president of satellite equipment supplier Hughes Network Systems said: “I was at a forum in Westminster just before Christmas and it was interesting listening to the heads of big companies like BT and Fujitsu talking about the rollout and the problems. Ofcom said in August that 14% of UK homes couldn’t get access at 2Mbits/sec and I find that frustrating when, if you look, we can already offer 100% coverage using satellite.”
O’Dell claims that Ka band satellite broadband currently boasts 10bps download speed and 2Mbps uploads, with no need for cable installation, all that is needed is a view of the sky.
While there are concerns that satellite services cost more than fibre optic, O’Dell said: “Is it in the same price point as fixed-line services? No. But the reality is that those people will never be able to get access to those speeds with a fixed-line service provider.”
Satellite providers hope that the government will increasingly look to their services as a viable and economic solution to get rural areas connected to faster broadband. Although at the moment, satellite services do not compare favourably in broadband reviews.