There’s been a huge development in the broadband industry with the news that a new broadband satellite has been given funding to the tune of £220,000 by the ESA (European Space Agency).
The new satellite is to be named Hercules, and will be able to deliver super-fast broadband speeds to large areas of the country that are currently not getting access to broadband. It will be created by Avanti Communications, and the funding will now help it to develop a plan to get the satellite up and running in the UK.
This is Avanti’s response to the Digital Britain Report from the Government, which includes the proposal to get 2Mbps broadband into every home across the country by 2012.
This is the second satellite from the company, following on from Hylas, which is set to be launched in 2010. Hylas, however, can only reach 100,000 users, meaning it will not be able to provide broadband to enough people to make a significant difference.
The chief executive of Avanti, David Williams, claimed that the satellite would be able to provide broadband access of between 2 and 50Mbps to about 2.5 million rural households across the country which do not currently get access to broadband. It would provide a low-cost solution to getting broadband access to the masses and would help the government to stick to its pledge.
Satellite broadband is a relatively new technology, but it is growing in popularity across the continent. However, it is still unclear just how economically viable the service is, so the government has to decide whether it is better to go ahead with the satellite broadband, or whether it would simply be cheaper to provide standard broadband to remoter areas.
What is clear, however, is that it could provide a real solution to solving the problem of numerous rural communities being unable to access broadband.
Your email address is required so we can verify that the comment is genuine. It will not be posted anywhere on the site, will be stored confidentially by us and never given out to any third party.