[Satellite TODAY 04-30-13] SES is hoping it can make a strong impact in the United Kingdom’s broadband market. The company announced today it has signed a deal with BeyonDSL for the distribution of SES Broadband in the U.K. and Ireland. As part of the agreement, BeyonDSL will market the service under the brand name “Satellite Internet” and offer download speeds of up to 20 Mbps.

 

     The U.K. is one of Europe’s main broadband markets, but the satellite opportunity is likely to be somewhat limited given the strong access to terrestrial broadband services. The U.K. communications regulator, Ofcom recently announced that in November last year, more than 77 percent of U.K. fixed-line residential broadband users were on packages with advertised speeds above “up to” 10 Mbps, up from 58 percent a year earlier.

 

     Earlier this week, Ofcom announced that the number of “unbundled” lines, where communications providers offer services to households using BT’s copper telephone network, had reached 9 million. Ofcom says fiber deployment and investment is expected to increase rapidly over the coming months. Virgin’s network already provides fast broadband services to more than 2 million households, while BT’s roll-out of fiber broadband is passing 100,000 new premises per week and has so far reached around 15 million, according to Ofcom. The regulator’s latest data also indicates there were 18.8 million fixed broadband connections at the end of 2011, and BT, Virgin Media, and BSkyB account for just under 70 percent of the market.

 

     The new “Satellite Internet” service uses Ka-band capacity on SES’ Astra 2F satellite located at the orbital position 28.2 degrees east. The end-user terminals are provided by Gilat Satellite Networks. The Ka-band payload of Astra 2F adds 1.7 GHz, which now enables SES Broadband Services to deliver satellite connectivity with download speeds of up to 20 Mbps. NordNet, Viveole and Wibox in France were the first service providers marketing this enhanced connectivity offering from SES.

 

      “We are delighted to extend our new high-speed satellite Internet service to consumers in the United Kingdom and Ireland together with our long-standing partner BeyonDSL. We are convinced that our new Ka-band solution presents a great alternative to users who do not have access to terrestrial broadband offers,” Patrick Biewer, managing director of SES Broadband Services said in a statement.

 

     This is the second major announcement related to the U.K. satellite broadband market made in the last 24 hours. SES’s great rival Eutelsat announced a partnership with the Confederation of Aerial Industries (CAI) to launch a program aimed at training 700 U.K. satellite broadband installers to provide its Tooway service to residents and businesses in areas poorly served or out of reach of traditional terrestrial broadband networks.

 

     Eutelsat said in a statement that its Tooway satellite broadband service is expected to reach the U.K.’s 3.3 million digitally deprived properties that are currently unable to receive broadband or can only access speeds of up to 2 Mbps.