Eutelsat launches Tooway Internet access service in UK
Using satellite technology available from just £29.99 per month, ToowayTM can now offer the UK’s rural homes, and those in slowband areas, access to 2 Megabit per second (2Mbps) broadband services without the need for any existing telephone line.
The service is also triple play-ready, allowing distributors to offer additional TV and IP telephony services using the same equipment.
ToowayTM will be delivered in the UK via a network of certified local distributors. The ToowayTM solution consists of a small satellite dish and a modem connected to the PC via Ethernet, giving customers Internet access following a simple installation.
According to Broadband think tank Point Topic large sections of the UK are still without the minimum 2Mbps broadband speed recommended in the Digital Britain interim report published in January this year.
Around 15 per cent of homes in the East Midlands are currently out of range, as are almost 16 per cent of homes in the North East, nearly 20 per cent in the South West, and around 14 per cent in the South East. The traditional route of extending cable connections capable of running the service to these homes would be expensive and well beyond the 2012 deadline set by Lord Carter in the report.
ToowayTM is already serving customers in 20 European countries including Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Switzerland and Ireland with other countries across Europe rolling out over the coming months.
ToowayTM operates in the Ku-band in the UK. It is delivered using Eutelsat’s EUROBIRDTM 3 satellite at 33º East. The service offers two-way satellite access to users without the need for a telephone line, delivering speeds of 2Mbps on the downlink and 256 Kbps on the uplink.
In 2010, Eutelsat will expand the service with additional high speed Internet access up to 10Mbps. These revolutionary broadband speeds will come from the launch of KA-SAT, a dedicated new satellite from Eutelsat, specifically designed for broadband delivery in Europe.
The satellite, which has the combined capacity of 40 traditional satellites, will enable Eutelsat to deliver Internet access to up to two million European homes at a similar speed, price and quality to that of terrestrial ADSL2 services.
