The Future of Rural Broadband is Looking Bright

We look at how current and future developments in broadband access and services are going to affect rural based businesses?

A spate of recent news article have highlighted the sudden interest in providing high-speed broadband connectivity to rural communities and as the trend to small, start-up businesses continues, often based in suburban or rural locations, we look at how this may impact the future viability of these businesses.
It has been announced that the government intends to use up to £830 million from the BBC’s licence fees to fund a roll out of BT’s fibre optic network into rural communities between now and 2017. This process has already started with the earlier announcement of a trial of super-fast broadband in the Highlands, North Yorkshire, Cumbria and Herefordshire through selected ISP’s as partners in the scheme. Part of this proposal also includes the release of additional radio spectrum to be used for wireless broadband services. Unfortunately for rural based businesses, the announcement is so far lacking on detail and the projected dates of 2017 for completion don’t suggest a quick turnaround for those businesses in desperate need of good broadband right now!
However, it is not all so dark as other announcements have pointed the way to high-speed broadband that is available now or in the next few months.
The most promising development for truly rural, isolated businesses is the move to Ka-Band for two-way satellite broadband services. These new frequency bands offer significant scope for increased capacity and performance, whilst reducing the costs and size of the terminal equipment needed by subscribers. Indeed, several operators have announced that they will be able to provide DSL type performance at prices comparable to existing DSL-type landline services! The UK will initially be served by two of these new satellite services, Hylas 1 from Avanti and KA-SAT from Eutelsat. Both are expected to be operational by early 2011. At very least, these new satellite services should offer a temporary solution until the later fibre-based broadband services become more wide-spread.
Another solution that is becoming more prevalent is the gathering of interested parties in small communities to install their own fibre-based broadband or wireless services. There are now several companies offering to help communities install these systems, some of whom are not-for-profit organisations dedicated to helping communities achieve their aimat an affordable price. As BT’s main fibre network expands, it is highly likely that these neighbourhood schemes will proliferate. An example of this is the 100Mbps fibre optic ( FTTH ) broadband network in the rural village of Ashby de la Launde in Lincolnshire. You can watch the BBC’s Click feature on this at:

http://nextgenus.blogspot.com/  or alternatively

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/click_online/default.stm

The broadband service at Ashby de la Launde is now so good, it is claimed to be the best in Europe!

Additionally, many of these community networks have excess capacity and are now finding they are in a position to sell the excess on to third parties of neighbouring communities or businesses.
So overall, it can be seen that with a little effort, any rural based business does not have to be in a so-called ‘NotSpot’ and in the very near future, high-speed broadband should be a reality for many, with the implication that being rural will no longer be a barrier to accessing the latest web based business servcies!