Nationwide 30Mbps Satellite Broadband Service Goes Live

Avanti and Avonline have launched a nationwide 30Mbps satellite broadband service, claiming rural communities in the UK will benefit from affordable, faster connectivity.

The two companies are participants in the government’s satellite broadband voucher schemes, which offer grants of up to £350 to eligible homes and businesses in areas not served by other publicly-funded initiatives like Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK).

The government is targeting 95 percent superfast broadband coverage by 2017 and satellite is seen as a way of bringing that figure as close to 100 percent as possible. Satellite is already used to ensure the entire of the UK has access to speeds of at least 2Mbps.

Read More: Are the government’s satellite broadband plans working?

Satellite broadband

Avanti participated in the government’s trials of ‘alternative’ broadband technologies to see how they could be used to eliminate the digital divide.

“From under-served local towns to neglected rural locations, we can now offer a superfast solution that can be ordered today and installed next week,” said Mark Wynn, Avonline managing director.

“Availability of a choice of affordable, blistering fast broadband packages, based on Avanti’s leading technology, finally means that rural consumers should no longer feel second class when it comes to broadband provision.”

“It’s great news for the most demanding rural users,” added Craig Penfold, chief commercial officer at Avanti.

A new universal service obligation (USO) was announced in the Queen’s Speech and would allow anyone in the UK to request access to broadband speeds of at least 10Mbps. Satellite is one of the methods likely to be used, alongside fixed wireless and long range VDSL on copper connections.

Advances in satellite technology have allowed for better speeds, but high latency continues to be an issue for some applications such as cloud and online gaming. Satellite broadband providers have had some criticisms about the voucher scheme, arguing the existence of several programmes and a complicated application process is hampering adoption.

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