In an attempt to meet the DETI promise made with regards to 100 percent broadband coverage many providers are using satellite broadband to achieve this target and will now risk losing the service on 31st March 2009 unless they agree to a change of contract by 31st October.

Telecoms minister, Arlene Foster said “I am determined that Northern Ireland should maintain its 100% broadband availability status and those living in remote areas should continue to have access to broadband services at a reasonable cost. My department is therefore issuing an invitation to tender today for a service provider that can offer basic broadband services to those premises that are unable to access a fixed-line solution. Those customers who are currently in receipt of broadband services via satellite will receive a letter and a form from BT to explain the change of contract. Customers should complete the form and return it to DETI as quickly as possible, to ensure they are registered as a priority for migration to the new service as soon as it is in place. DETI wishes to reassure those affected customers that the migration process, from one service provider to another, will take place as a matter of urgency and free of charge.”

Although the contract for ‘eGov monitor’ is currently held by BT it has indicated that the contract will be opened up for the next five years. Most would presume that BT will be in the running for the contract renewal but at present it is not known and it would also seem likely that this being the case BT would put in a bid, but the DETI would probably change suppliers if a better offer was laid on the table.

There have been various calls from groups for universal broadband including the EU, but people may need to be careful even though satellite broadband is able to accomplish this. The concerns lie with the fact that although for most internet related tasks satellite broadband is fine there are problems for those using the internet for online gaming or applications requiring interaction because of the latency involved in satellite communications which makes it slow for these tasks. It is widely thought by the bodies that fund universal broadband that it would make sense to think about the situation in the long term and whether spending more in the short term by subsidising the rollout of a fibre based network solution or installing a good wireless network to the community would, in the long run, provide lower costs and more benefits. The only problem with this is that politicians may be more likley to go for quick fixes for those communities that have limited access to broadband, as this scores them more PR points than looking at fixes in the long term.