8. Service flexibility is another crucial factor, there’s little point in delivering a 2Mbps service if the speeds slow to a crawl or the service is hindered by a restrictively small usage allowance. Eutelsat’s Tooway £29.99 BASIC package came with a fair access policy (FAP) of just 1.2GB, which is of little use and makes the service seem very expensive for what you actually get.

The service itself must thus be capable of delivering all the benefits of a modern Internet connection at an affordable level, which includes services like Internet TV (IPTV) and Voice (VoIP). The BBC’s web-based Internet TV iPlayer service would deplete 1.2GB within a few hours. By comparison the cheapest Mobile Broadband service can deliver an allowance of 15GB for £20 on an 18 month contract. How will the HYLAS service compete with this?

AVANTI: Difficult to say; our average customer in Scotland’s usage is about 3.3GB per month – comfortably within their 5GB usage allowance which costs just over £25 per month on a 512/256 service.  However, I noted yesterday that the BBC is proposing to charge for iPlayer downloads – this may have a significant impact on its usage and may make lower demand on the Internet as a whole.

9. Will HYLAS be able to resolve some of the high latency problems that appear to be inherent with satellite broadband services? This is due to the long relay time for data to go up and down from the satellite and back to a user’s computer and can make fast paced multiplayer gaming almost impossible, while also causing sync issues with VoIP and IPTV services.

AVANTI: Latency is a fact of life with satellites.  The signal travels approximately 70,000 kilometres which causes a delay of approximately 300 milliseconds.  This is actually regarded as an acceptable delay under the G.114 standard for voice services and satellite is widely used for GSM backhaul in Africa and the Middle East.
 
Interview Ends.

It’s clear that some issues, such as latency, were never going to be overcome as they are historically inherent problems with the technology. However some of the suggestions (subsidised hardware/installation costs) do bode well for helping to tackle the affordability angle. The monthly rental could still be a sticking point, as could usage allowances, although it will not be possible to judge until the final details for Hylas based services have been revealed.

It should be noted that, since the writing of this article, Avanti has announced the development of yet another new satellite – Hercules. Backed by EU funding, Hercules promises download speeds of up to 50Mbps, which would have been almost unthinkable for a consumer grade satellite service just a couple of years ago.

Related News Items:

2009/05/23 - Avanti UK to Develop New 50Mbps Hercules Broadband Satellite

2009/05/05 - UK Satellite ISP Avanti Hints at 2Mbps Rural Broadband for £15

2009/04/21 - Avanti Signs Four Major UK Satellite Broadband ISP Contracts