The European Satellite Operators’ Association has welcomed the appointment of Neelie Kroes as Commissioner of the European Union’s newly created Digital Agenda portfolio, which will be responsible for plans to deliver high speed broadband access to 100%…
The European Satellite Operators’ Association has welcomed the appointment of Neelie Kroes as Commissioner of the European Union’s newly created Digital Agenda portfolio, which will be responsible for plans to deliver high speed broadband access to 100% of Europeans.
ESOA has been advocating the use of satellites to provide broadband services to rural areas in order to achieve quicker implementation of the universal service agenda.
The Association has been hampered in these efforts by the European Commission’s focus on delivering ultra-fast broadband at speeds that can only achieved through rolling out fibre networks across the entire continent.
ESOA Secretary General Aarti Holla told SatelliteFinance: “The push for fibre distracts from the last mile. To focus only on fibre to achieve universal service excludes a portion of the population, as it will take 20 to 30 years and E100bn in public funding to reach everyone in Europe through fibre networks.”
“Satellite technology is unique in that it can provide immediate connectivity to the Internet backbone, especially to those areas in Europe lacking commercial interest for terrestrial operators.
“Satellite infrastructure is already in place and more capacity will be launched this year but we still need public support, both at EU and Member State level, to overcome the obstacles preventing isolated citizens from becoming part of the 21st century information society.”
The attitude of the Commission is surprising given the increasing confidence shown by the financial markets over the past year in the prospects for fast consumer satellite broadband delivered by Ka-band. This confidence has been echoed by national governments across the world, but the Commission’s targets highlight a coolness on its part towards the necessity for satellites services to augment fibre.
“The Commission intend to deliver speeds of 100 Mbps where possible, and 30 Mbps everywhere else,” said Holla. “If we consider that video streaming applications may be the main driver for broadband in the coming years, even if you want video on demand to go to every user you shouldn’t need more than 10 Mbps per TV, which means most households with two TV sets should require 20 Mbps at most.”
“I think the Commission should take a more holistic, inclusive, and less technocratic policy.”
Holla said that there is a lack of awareness in many Commission circles as to the developments made in satellite broadband over the last few years, and pointed out that the imminent launch of two new dedicated European Ka-band satellites will connect at least a million users by the end of this year alone, one tenth of the estimated ten million Europeans who do not have access to terrestrial broadband.
She also pointed out that if these satellites are successful, there is no reason why more may not be procured.
“The satellite industry does not ask for huge amounts of public funding, it is a sector that naturally takes risks and satellite operators invest huge amounts of money up front,” said Holla. “There needs to be some kind of political will to recognise current capability and continue to encourage investments in the future generation of satellites which are already being researched.”
ESOA hopes to make its case for the need to include satellites in the broadband solution to Commissioner Kroes in the coming weeks.
