BT will use the HYLAS1 satellite, launched last month by Avanti, in its £132 million plan to get broadband to the remotest parts of Cornwall.
In a £1.2 million deal, BT will use satellite broadband services delivered by the newly-launched HYLAS 1 to plug the gaps in broadband, and help out the £132 million Next Generation Access project which aims to get 90 percent of homes in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly on a decent broadband speed.
Avanti’s services, provided from the HYLAS1 satellite which launched on 26 November, will fill in the gaps where fibre can’t be provided, giving up to 10Mbps broadband with 5Mbps uplinks. Avanti says its satellite broadband can be provided for £25 a month – or less if there are any subsidies.
BT is investing £78.5 million in the scheme, which will also get £53.5 million from the European Regional Development Fund.
“I am delighted that Avanti will be working alongside BT to ensure all residents of Cornwall will be able to connect to high speed broadband services.” said David Williams, chief executive of Avanti.
Satellite broadband, originally a decidedly second rate option, has improved thanks to the use of the Ka-band which allows two-way transmission, from a normal sized low-power antenna mounted on the outside of the house.
The only performance issue will be the latency, as the 36,000 mile journey to the satellite adds about 400ms to the time taken for data to reach its destination.
“Latency is a fact of life derived from the laws of physics, and every form of technology has a latency factor,” said Williams. While wargamers might reject a service with a ping of 400ms to 600ms, he claims that the service is already used for the real thing: “The military is using a Ka-band satellite to pilot and control aerial vehicles,” he said.
The project is partly funded by European Regional Development Fund Convergence ( £53.5m) while British Telecom (BT) will invest £78.5m on the scheme.
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All very well to promise high-speed broadband for Cornwall (and good luck to them) but here in rural North Wales our broadband speed is severely reduced due to lack of investment by BT in the ancient landline infrastructure. BT reports that our line, for example, will support 'up to half a megabite' of the 'up to 8Mb' that we pay for. Yet less than 3 miles away, BT customers are enjoying more than 20Mb at the same time and on the same exchange!
There should be a fair and decent broadband service for all BT customers who pay the same charge, irrespective of population density and without the motive for pure profit.
Is this the right thing for BT to get into. They lay cables don't they? There are many UK specialist companies who already do satellite broadband. I would much rather sign up with a small specialist company than BT. I know of Tooway and Avanti dealers who work hard for your custom. To them you are a real person and that matters in the rural broadband satellite field. I know this to be the case as I am already a satlisfied user of one of the dealers.