Will Some Broadband Stimulus Funding Follow Irish Example?

At least some homes in rural Ireland will be supplied with broadband using satellite connections, after a deal was announced between Avanti Communications, the U..K satellite company, and Hutchison 3G Ireland, according to the Financial Times.

Last year the Irish government awarded a contract to Hutchison 3G Ireland to supply broadband to the 10 percent of the population whose locations are remote enough that extending fixed line connections are not feasible. Most of the 220,000 homes are in rural areas, and the majority will connect to the Internet using mobile connections, starting late in April.

Hutchison 3G Ireland could supply Internet access to up to 6,000 Irish homes through satellite connections.

Satellite connections tend to be viewed as too expensive and too slow, compared to wired connections. But sometimes wired connections are financially unworkable. Avanti is using Ka-band spectrum, which allows powerful spot beams to be focused on small areas.

Hughes Network Systems and Wildblue Communications in the United States also use Ka-band technology, offering higher-power signals and bandwidth.

The new broadband satellite services should cost around £20 per month, bringing them into line with prices for fixed-line and mobile connections.

One wonders whether anybody is going to figure out that for the most-isolated locations, satellite might be the most-efficient way to rapidly extend broadband access. Perhaps it won't offer maximum bandwidth equivalent to a fiber to the home connection or VDSL.

But that isn't the point. If you want to get broadband to isolated locations fast and affordably, satellite sometimes is the only option.

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