Broadband Satellite ISP Avanti Communications UK has this evening, at around 6:40pm, successfully launched and separated its HYLAS 1 (Highly Adaptable Satellite) spacecraft into orbit (space) around the Earth. It will now undergo various testing procedures before being brought into full commercial service early next year.

The Ka-band satellite, which went aloft aboard a Kourou based Ariane 5 rocket, is designed to serve UK and European homes with broadband download speeds of up to 10Mbps (i.e. rural areas). It will also have an important role to play in helping the government to meet its 2015 target; delivering a minimum broadband download speed of 2Mbps to everybody in the country (USC).


The EADS Astrium and Antrix built HYLAS 1 can deliver its service to 350,000 customers' and a forthcoming sister satellite, HYLAS 2 (due to follow in just over one year's time), should expand upon that to reach an additional 700,000 at similar speeds. Further satellites are intended.

However for the time being HYLAS 1 will have to exist without comparable redundancy in its network. Satellite solutions also suffer from significantly higher than normal latency (bad for fast paced multiplayer games), meagre usage allowances and hefty hardware/installation costs of around £500.

At present we know that a 2Mbps service delivered through HYLAS 1 will set customers back £25 per month, which isn't the most competitive pricing we've seen; ISPs could also add a larger profit margin on top. We'll have to wait for the first true services to appear next year before we can gauge how competitive it is.

UPDATE 29th November 2010

We already covered this but Avanti have only just issued their own press release. They state that the Ariane 5 launch was perfect, injecting HYLAS 1 into the correct orbit precisely on schedule.

HYLAS 1 separated from the Ariane 5 after 34 minutes of flight and telemetry was immediately received at the control centre. The solar arrays deployed on schedule and all systems checks showed full spacecraft functions to be working correctly.