BTopenworld to launch broadband satellite service
- Added:
- Jul 31, 2001
The service - which is targeted at SMEs and SoHos - will be rolled out to parts of the country where it is impractical to install ADSL lines at local exchanges, if demand takes off.
BT has partnered with Gilat Satellite Network to provide the service. Gilat will provide capacity on a Gilat satellite that is already in position over the UK and linked to a ground station in Germany. According to BT, users will need to install a 90cm satellite dish and satellite modem to access the service.
At present ADSL is still mainly confined to local exchanges in metropolitan areas, and rollout is a problem in sparsely populated areas where users can be located long distances from exchanges.
Until recently, users had to be within a 3.5km radius of enabled exchanges to sign up for ADSL services because background ‘noise' degrades the signal quality over longer stretches of copper wire. BT has now extended the maximum distance to 5.5km with technology that automatically senses when signal to noise ratios reach a critical level and compensates by switching available bandwidth from upstream to downstream channels.
In addition to its European infrastructure, Gilat Satellite Network is also a joint venture partner with Microsoft, EchoStar and ING Furman Selz Investments in StarBand Communications, a two-way satellite internet service for US consumers.
Gilat's Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) network consists of VSAT remote sites with small antennas; typically businesses or residential users connected to a large central earth station or hub, which includes a large antenna and enables the connection of all the VSATs in the network to the internet. A VSAT remote site includes an indoor unit, an outdoor unit and a small antenna. The indoor unit usually fits on a desktop like a modem and contains the circuitry that activates the communications link between the user's equipment and the satellite. The outdoor unit transmits and receives signals to and from the satellite transponder using a small antenna between 0.9 to 1.8 meters that can be mounted on an end-user's roof, ground, or wall.