Avanti Communications, a UK based broadband Satellite ISP, has been chosen as part of a "competitive tender" to help people who live in rural parts of Kent gain access to faster broadband internet access services.

A 2009 study of the area estimated that Virgin Media UK's cable service could reach 38.3% of Kent's households and VFast, a fixed wireless ISP, was able to reach 33.9%, while BT managed 97.4%. A quarter of local homes can only receive speeds of 2Mbps and 8% are left to suffer a maximum of 512Kbps (0.5Mbps).


The Kent County Council (KCC) confirmed earlier this year that they had set aside £1.5 million for a new Superfast Broadband Pilot Fund and were recently awarded additional funding of £9,870,000 by the governments Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) office to help 90% gain access to related services by 2015.


Avanti are likely to leverage their new HYLAS 1 satellite, which can deliver internet download speeds of up to 10Mbps, to help the region. VFast and BT are also known to be involved and the next set of community broadband grants will be available in the 2012-2013 financial years.