Satellite Solutions Worldwide Rebrands to Bigblu Broadband Group

European and UK satellite and fixed wireless operator Satellite Solutions Worldwide (Europasat) has re-branded to Bigblu Broadband Group PLC, although the operator remains focused on its niche market of the last 5% – 10% of rural customers in each country that are “unserved or underserved by fibre broadband“.

Currently around 82% of the company’s customers are on satellite broadband with 18% on various fixed wireless broadband and alternative solutions. Over the past three years they’ve also acquired 20 other businesses, in 9 countries, such as Satellite ISPs Avonline and BeyonDSL, not to mention fixed wireless operators Quickline and Clannet in the United Kingdom.

Suffice to say that Bigblu has inherited a plethora of different brands in different countries and thus from June 2018 they will begin to re-brand all of them under a single name.

Bigblu Broadband Statement

Bigblu’s core technologies remain satellite broadband, ultra-fast fixed wireless (radio) broadband, and where available fixed 4G and 5G using cellular networks. The business continues to work closely with a wide variety of technology and satellite companies around the world who have products in the pipeline which may in the future fit our markets and positioning, and we’ll bring those into our customer offer if and when appropriate on a market by market basis.

Satellite broadband is an excellent fit for many rural homes and businesses (we are now delivering 50 Mb download speeds over satellite broadband in many countries) particularly in areas where population density is low. However fixed wireless broadband is also an excellent broadband solution with low latency, and high throughputs which enable very high (ultra-fast>100 Mbps) download speeds with truly unlimited data allowances for end users.

There are a significant number of Government grants and subsidies available in various locations across Europe and Australia for the deployment of next generation fixed wireless networks. Bigblu with its experience and track record in building out large scale fixed wireless networks is well positioned to bid for and win more of this grant funding. The business has already won 2 out of the 3 Government tenders its bid for in the UK, and 2 out of 2 of the ones its bid for in Norway.

At present the change for customers should be largely cosmetic or administrative, as opposed to something that will result in a more fundamental shift in service provision or quality. The operator’s most recent 2017 annual report noted that they had a customer base of 100,240 (up from 78,717 in 2016).