{"id":10449,"date":"2015-10-28T09:20:17","date_gmt":"2015-10-28T09:20:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ispreview.co.uk\/?p=10449"},"modified":"2015-10-28T09:20:17","modified_gmt":"2015-10-28T09:20:17","slug":"satellite-isp-says-satellite-broadband-can-fix-uk-rural-connectivity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ispreview.co.uk\/index.php\/2015\/10\/satellite-isp-says-satellite-broadband-can-fix-uk-rural-connectivity.html","title":{"rendered":"Satellite ISP Says Satellite Broadband Can Fix UK Rural Connectivity"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the ISPs involved in a Government pilot of Satellite<\/a> broadband connectivity for remote rural areas claims that the effort has been a success and that 61.5% of people who participated in a free trial have now chosen to sign up to a one-year contract. But did they have any other choice?<\/p>\n

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According to Satellite Internet<\/a>, which uses the SES (ASTRA) platform to deliver ‘up to’ 20Mbps capable broadband services across the United Kingdom and Europe, the pilot in Exmoor<\/strong> has “demonstrated positive results<\/em>” (note: the pilot itself is understood to have been capable of delivering a higher top speed than that).<\/p>\n

The scheme was one of seven other pilots under the Government’s \u00a310m Innovation Fund<\/strong>, which was setup last year to “test innovative solutions<\/em>” for delivering superfast broadband (24Mbps+<\/strong>) services to the final 5% of the United Kingdom (predominantly the most difficult to reach rural areas).<\/p>\n

One of the pilots – Superfast Satellite For Communities<\/a> (SS4C) – includes a project for parts of Devon<\/strong> and Somerset<\/strong> that pushed \u00a3175,125<\/strong> of tax payers money towards harnessing KA-band Satellite<\/a> connectivity as a backhaul solution for local wireless networks, as well as directly to customer premises; this is run by the above named ISP.<\/p>\n

\"superfast<\/div>\n

According to SES, the service was initially installed in Luxborough<\/strong> (this is where that 61.5% figure comes from) and later Simonsbath<\/strong>, while the pilot for Priddy<\/strong> is still said to be stuck in the “community engagement phase<\/em>” (i.e. the locals of Priddy aren’t big fans of satellite<\/a>). Both of the active trials are fairly small (around 100 homes) and so won’t be taxing the network much.<\/p>\n

Mike Locke, Managing Director at Satellite<\/a> Internet, said:<\/strong><\/p>\n

“With its mixed methodology of SDN and DTH, the SS4C superfast broadband delivery model is fully scalable and can cover any geography, thus offering a 100 percent premises coverage in all but the most unlikely and extreme of cases.<\/em><\/p>\n

The feasibility of broadband provision over satellite is not in the least constrained \u2013 technically or commercially \u2013 by sparse population density, community remoteness or challenging geography. It can therefore play a full part to meet the needs of users who cannot be reached by more traditional Internet delivery, making it an ideal solution for the final five percent challenge faced by Broadband Delivery UK<\/a> (BDUK).<\/em>“<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Certainly Satellite has a role to play and the Government have recently started trials of a new subsidy scheme to help cover the hefty installation costs of related connections (here<\/a>), which is eventually expected to be rolled out across the United Kingdom.<\/p>\n

However Satellite isn’t perfect and related connections are notorious for offering restrictive data caps (packages get very expensive if you want something more akin to a modern fixed line service). The high latency of related connections can also slow down many Internet services and makes enjoying fast paced multiplayer games an impossibility. We examined some of Satellite\u2019s pitfalls in more detail here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Government appears to recognise this and thus their subsidy seems to focus more on being used for reaching the final 1-2% of the United Kingdom, which tends to represent the very smallest and most isolated of communities. But in our view it should really only be used for the final sub-1% as there are some larger villages in the wider 2% that could still be catered for by innovative fixed wireless or fixed line solutions.<\/p>\n

So on the one hand it\u2019s good to see that 61.5% in at least one area have signed up to the service, but on the other hand we\u2019re not given any detailed customer feedback and it\u2019s not like they had many alternatives (go back to the old, slow and unreliable BT<\/a> line?). Once the kit has been installed then you can understand why locals might retain it, but is it a long-term fix?<\/p>\n

Now here’s a video with some more background on the project:<\/p>\n