Avanti satellite broadband tested and ready to go

The first UK customers will be able to get satellite broadband from Avanti Communications from this week with testing on the satellite having been successfully completed last week.

It has been confirmed that the first UK customers will be able to get satellite broadband from Avanti Communications from this week following the successful completion of the satellite testing last week. Testing of the company’s Hylas 1 satellite was completed last week according to reports with officials from Avanti Communications confirming that the satellite was “working in conformance with specification and, in some areas, delivering higher performance than originally specified”.

Official from the company also said that the first live customer services would be installed this week and the five thousand users who formed the customer base for testing would be moved onto the live service from 4th April. Over sixty virtual network operators spanning sixteen European countries are said to have bought capacity on the service according to Avanti officials.

Avanti Communications chief executive David Williams said: “With Europe’s first fully operational broadband satellite, Avanti will now provide a range of satellite data communications services to consumers, enterprise and governmental organisations across the UK and Europe. In such a vast market with so much growth in data demand, and a strong customer base already committed, we are highly confident of achieving rapid commercial success for this powerful and flexible satellite.”

The satellite was launched into orbit in November of last year through the Ariane 5, which is a French rocket. Hundreds of thousands of people should be able to benefit from broadband speeds of up to 10Mbps through the service.

Will you be benefitting from this satellite broadband service? Let us know with your comments.

Source – ZDNet