BT Signs Up Another Satellite Broadband Partner

BT has signed up Satellite Solutions Worldwide (SSW) as one of the partners for the government’s subsidised satellite broadband scheme for homes and businesses not covered by existing deployments.

Up to 300,000 properties will be eligible for government vouchers that cover the cost of a satellite dish and modem installation.

Trials in Suffolk and West Yorkshire have already taken place with the involvement of four suppliers. The scheme started in December and BT has already secured Avanti as a partner.

Satellite broadband deal

“We are delighted to be working with BT and a number of other satellite parties to extend the reach of high-speed broadband in the UK,” said SSW CEO Andrew Walwyn. “The UK Government’s scheme both removes the barrier-to-entry cost for customer on the acquisition of the kit, and at the same times increases our addressable market in the UK.”

SSW offers a basic service of 10Mbps – the planned new universal service obligation – up to a ‘superfast’ service of 30Mbps. It is already involved in a separate Welsh-assisted satellite

Existing broadband projects like BDUK and the Super Connected City voucher scheme, which provides grants of up to £3,000 to small businesses to upgrade their connectivity, have so far connected 3.5 million premises.

“Our rollout of superfast broadband has already reached an additional 3.5 million homes and businesses who would otherwise have missed out,” said Ed Vaizey, minister for the digital economy.  “We are making tremendous progress, but it’s a massive engineering project and won’t happen overnight. This scheme offers immediate assistance to those homes and businesses in the most remote areas with the slowest speeds and is all part of our transformation of the UK’s digital landscape.”