Satellites: Connecting the Unconnected
by Johann Pohany
Luxembourg City, January 3, 2013-Anybody who lives outside an urban area in Europe is familiar with the problem of slow loading internet pages. Due to the steady rise of data streams on modern internet pages it can take ages to load an internet page these days, often forcing the browser to time out. While internet access is widely regarded as a right and no longer a privilege – and social, economic and even political development is increasingly dependent on broadband connectivity – millions of people across Europe suffer from insufficient or even non-existent internet connectivity.
In Germany alone, a country with a very well established high-speed internet infrastructure, more than 6.5 million citizens (around 8 percent of the population) do not have access to speeds of 2 Mbit/s. Looking at the rest of Europe the picture gets considerably worse, as approximately 30 percent of EU households still suffer from too slow connections. Although several countries have set themselves ambitious broadband targets, political and economic obstacles often prevent the expansion of terrestrial networks, such as cable and fibre. The European Union, for example, wants to realize high-speed internet of at least 30 Mbit/s for all of its citizens by the end of 2020. Yet these targets will most probably not be achieved, and still leave millions of households and entire communities in dire need of fast internet connections, as it is highly unlikely that towns and villages that do not exceed certain population levels will ever become viable for cable and fiber expansion.
The other proposed solution is LTE. LTE – short for Long Term Evolution – is considered by many to be the obvious successor to the current generation of UMTS 3G-technology. Many politicians and decision makers have been hailing LTE as the long awaited solution to the broadband misery in rural areas. However, the development of LTE-networks has not produced the intended results either. According to the German Federal Network Agency, the expansion conditions in all federal states have been met; meaning a further expansion of the LTE network in rural areas is not likely. Yet, as LTE technology is generally more profitable in urban areas, small communities that are most in need of high-speed internet have still been left waiting.
So is there another solution for the under-connected communities in Europe? Yes, there is. Satellite broadband technology offers exactly what towns and villages in rural areas are so desperately waiting for: immediate high-speed internet access at relatively low cost. Most leading global satellite operators offer products that provide high-speed internet to households via their satellite network. For example SES’ subsidiary SES Broadband Services, which has been contributing to broadband internet provision in remote areas since 2007, cooperates with designated Internet Service Providers across Europe (ISP) that act as the wholesale supplier of its broadband platform and the capacity on offer, whereby each ISP markets the service within their respective catchment areas. Such a satellite-based solution is an especially cost-effective way for ISPs to reach every single potential subscriber with minimal capital expenditure for the ISP and a competitive monthly cost for end users in rural regions. To connect to the system, users merely need a satellite dish and a modem, which are available at affordable prices. Once connected, the satellite broadband solution appears and operates just like and also offers VoIP telephony and triple-play packages.
Yet, one of SES Broadband Services’ solutions stands out from the crowd, as it does not only provide packages for single household users: “SES Broadband for Communities”. The solution was introduced to the German market in 2012 and has been very well received by numerous communities throughout the country. It provides high-speed broadband internet connectivity via satellite to support entire groups of users via one single satellite antenna. This offers consumers and businesses in rural communities reliable and cost-efficient broadband internet access to areas not served by terrestrial broadband wherever they are located – be it in a mountainous village in the Alps or in a small coastal town on the North Sea. Moreover, the solution is eligible for subsidisation and very easy to install. Only a few weeks after a community applies for the SES Broadband for Communities service, the satellite-based system is installed, based on the community’s individual geographic needs. Thereafter, anybody in the village can surf the internet at high speed rates, merely having to install a standard modem in their homes and signing a contract with the respective internet service provider. It doesn’t get any easier.
The solution combines the company’s satellite broadband service with other “last-mile” technologies. This means that SES Broadband Services provides one central broadband connection to an aggregation point and then brings internet connection to the end users via existing infrastructure, such as DSLAM, Cable or WiFi. With a fast and reliable satellite internet backbone and speeds of up to 8 Mbit/s for all end customers within the network as well as up to 16 Mbit/s for SMEs, SES Broadband for Communities is the next step toward reaching full broadband provision, as it provides entire villages and towns with high-speed internet.
In addition, the overall SES Broadband Services offering for residential users as well as for communities will become even more competitive in the near future, as SES has begun adding Ka-band capability to its satellite fleet. Beginning with the launch of its latest spacecraft ASTRA 2F in September 2012, the Ka-band payload is now providing France with all the benefits of the existing satellite broadband, including universal reach, instant availability and inexpensive, easy-to-fit end user equipment. Most notably, it will offer high data speeds of up to 20Mb/s, making satellite broadband a future-proof solution. Moreover, this development does not end here. Over the next 18 months SES will be launching three additional satellites and provide further Ka-band capacity to SES’s network and extend its coverage in core European markets, such as Germany, UK, Italy and the Benelux.
So what does this mean for rural communities in Europe? Put simply, satellite broadband will continue to fill the gap where other solutions reach their limits and deliver where traditional terrestrial technologies are not viable. The only thing community representatives have to do now is to give satellite internet solutions, such as SES Broadband for Communities, a chance, because ultimately the aim for end users, governments and service providers is the universal provision of genuinely high-speed broadband throughout Europe. And that will only be achieved with a technology mix including cable, fibre, wireless – and satellite.
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Johann Pohany has over 16 years of professional experience in senior management positions within a blue chip company, as CEO of a SME IT-Company and as CEO of ND SatCom. His background includes over 20 years in manufacturing, automation, energy, IT and about 10 years of Satellite Communication Industry experience. He serves currently as executive consultant and interim manager in various industries. Johann holds a PhD, lectures on "Information and Communication Systems for decentralized Energy Management" at the University of Brandenburg in Germany and is member of the program board "Space" and Vice-Chairman of the "Navigation and Communication" Program Board of the DLR (German Space Agency). He can be reached at johann.pohany@hotmail.de
