Avanti can supply 8Mbps to anyone in the UK for £25 per month later this year when the HYLAS 1 satellite launches. The approximate £200m which may be spent (from the BBC license fee) may help some rural users to buy satellite services faster, but it will not have an impact on any telco’s ability to build fibre, which the government estimated in the Digital Britain report may cost £30bn.
By way of example, the Australian government agreed last week to pay Telstra £7.7 billion (AUD13 billion) just for access to existing ducting infrastructure – before any money is spent on pulling new cable or extending ducting to rural areas. Satellite broadband is the only technology which can guarantee rural users a high speed broadband service and, thankfully, the UK is ahead of other markets in moving to do this early.”