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The Register: Aramiska in Northern Ireland broadband deal

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  • 29-01-2002 6:59pm
    #1
    dahamsta
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 16,659 ✭✭✭✭


    http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/22/23870.html
    Businesses in Northern Ireland are being offered grants to hook up to broadband by satellite. Some 250 small and medium-sized businesses could receive up to £1,500 each to subsidise set-up and running costs for hi-speed Net access supplied by Aramiska.
    <hollow cough>

    adam


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    #2
    chernobyl
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,682 ✭✭✭chernobyl


    Although it has good intentions, satellite bandwidth is too expensive, and i imagine it would have been cheaper in both the short and long term to setup a wireless network directly to a backbone.


  • Options
    #3
    ando
    Registered Users Posts: 5,398 ✭✭✭ando


    the only thing stopping me from getting sat access is the enormous latency involved.


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    #4
    dahamsta
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 16,659 ✭✭✭✭dahamsta


    Only thing stopping me is the initial outlay. Hence the hollow cough.

    adam


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    #5
    c0y0te
    Closed Accounts Posts: 931 ✭✭✭c0y0te


    Picked this story up on http://www.enn.ie and thought it might be of interest...

    c0y0te

    _______________________

    Northern Ireland businesses without access to ADSL will be able to take advantage of subsidised satellite broadband Internet services from mid-February.
    A pilot scheme funded by the North's Industrial Research & Technology Unit (IRTU) will allow SMEs there to avail of grant support of up to STG1,500 if they take up the offer of broadband access via satellite. Under the programme, the IRTU will provide funding of up to 50 percent of the set-up and first year's running costs.

    However, the scheme is only open to businesses with up to 250 employees and turnover of no more than EUR40 million. And, according to the IRTU, another restriction is that businesses must not reside in areas where ADSL services are available to them.

    "Although ADSL is available in Northern Ireland it is mainly restricted to certain areas of Belfast and the larger towns. As a result, the vast majority of businesses here don't have access to ADSL and probably never will," said Anne Conaty, head of the telecoms policy unit within the IRTU.

    Conaty told ElectricNews.Net that she was hopeful that the offer would prove attractive to businesses. "Once companies start using the satellite service we are sure they will see that it increases their competitiveness and improves the way they do business," she said.

    The pilot scheme had already received 48 applications and the IRTU is looking to have 250 companies using the service by the middle of 2002.

    Satellite broadband services have been touted as real alternatives to ADSL and cable modems. This is because they offer comparable download and upload speeds, with the added plus that the service does not have physical, geographic or terrestrial access restrictions.



    Technology analysis firm Dataquest said in a recent study that it expected the number of satellite terminals in the world's three major economic regions to increase from an installed base of 293,500 terminals in 2000 to 7.2 million terminals in 2005. By that time, Dataquest said that North America will account for 54 percent of all satellite broadband access terminals, with Europe and the Asia-Pacific region accounting for 30 percent and 16 percent respectively.

    "Satellite broadband gives users connection speeds as good as ADSL and can be installed anywhere without the digging up of roads or other infrastructure," commented Steve Petrie, chief marketing officer of Aramiska, one of the companies offering its services in the Northern Ireland pilot scheme.

    Satellite broadband does, however, have a reputation of being more expensive than ADSL with once-off installation costs running to around EUR600. However, Petrie told ElectricNews.Net that Aramiska's monthly fees, which start at EUR149, are competitive with ADSL providers and cheaper than leased lines.


    Anne Conaty of the IRTU said the organisation hoped that the increased use of satellite broadband Internet access among businesses in Northern Ireland would eventually drive down prices for the service in the region.


    The IRTU is an agency with the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment for Northern Ireland.

    Aramiska, which was founded in 2000, offers satellite-based broadband business packages for SMEs in the UK and Europe. It is set to launch an offering aimed at the Irish business market by March.

    The IRTU can be found at http://www.irtu-ni.gov.uk. Aramiska can be found at http://www.aramiska.net.


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