30 Jan 2009 08:00
Date: 30 January 2009
On behalf of: Avanti Communications Group plc ("Avanti" or "the Company")
For immediate release
Avanti Communications Group plc
Response to Digital Britain Interim Report
Avanti Communications Group Plc (AIM: AVN), the broadband satellite operator, welcomes the publication of the Digital Britain Interim Report¹. Avanti shares the view that 2Mb universal broadband access is a necessary target. But whilst satellite receives a reference as a potential enabling wireless technology to achieve this target, Avanti is disappointed that the existing role of satellite in solving broadband not-spots has not been recognised.
At least 1.5% of UK homes cannot access copper or fibre-optic broadband at any speed. As a result several hundred thousand families and businesses in the UK are missing out on crucial opportunities for trade, education and social mobility. Yet, whilst the rest of the telecoms industry debates this, Avanti has already begun to solve the problem. In the last year, with the help of several Regional Government agencies, Avanti has built satellite networks to provide broadband at speeds of up to 2Mb to 10,000 homes at competitive prices in the UK, and many more around Europe. In 2009 Avanti's specialised broadband satellite, HYLAS, will launch² providing speeds of up to 8Mb to up to 350,000 homes.
Avanti announces today the beginning of a study to prove that Ka band satellite is the only economically viable way to provide Universal Broadband (2Mb by 2010) and Next Generation Access (50Mb by 2012) to the most rural 5% - 10% of the UK Population. Avanti and its retained consultants will report in March. Avanti challenges the telecoms industry to find a better quality service at lower cost than satellite to serve this population.
¹ released yesterday by the Department for Culture Media and Sport and Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform
² with the assistance of R&D funding from the Department of Innovation Universities and Science awarded through ESA in 2006
Enquiries to:
| Avanti Communications Group plc | http://www.avanti-communications.com/ |
| David Williams/Nigel Fox | 020 7749 1600 |
| Redleaf Communications Ltd | avanti@redleafpr.com |
| Emma Kane/ Samantha Robbins/ Paul Dulieu | 020 7566 6700 |
Notes to Editors:
About Avanti Communications
Avanti Communications Group plc is the only licensed Fixed Satellite Services operator headquartered in the UK (and one of only eight such groups operating in Europe);
Avanti sells wholesale satellite broadband services to telecoms companies which supply customers in consumer, enterprise and institutional markets.
Avanti's first satellite, called Hylas is under construction and due for launch in 2009; it will be the first broadband satellite launched in Europe.
Avanti, which has more than 10 years' experience in the satellite industry, currently provides satellite broadband services to customers in Europe using leased satellite capacity which it will transfer to Hylas on launch.
The European Commission has set aside funding for rural broadband projects in 79 regions across Europe with a total value of €2.8 billion over the next five years.