Satellite broadband for rural businesses


8 May 2003

A Dublin-based company is to offer satellite broadband to businesses in rural areas where there is no ADSL (asymmetrical digital subscriber line) services for €129 a month.

GV Distribution has forged a partnership deal with UK-based companies FDTM and Chronos Technology, which have offered such services to rural companies throughout the UK.

“The plan is to transform the rural business sector, which has been bypassed by ADSL services and give them access to a high-speed, fixed-price, always-on internet connection over satellite,” explained GV Distribution’s director of sales, Gordon Smith. “There are many businesses throughout Ireland who cannot take advantage of broadband due to lack of availability or excessive financial outlay. These obstacles will no longer exist.”

According to Smith, over the coming months businesses anywhere in Ireland can subscribe to the service that offers 2Mbps (megabits per second) download speeds and 512Kbps (kilobits per second) upload speeds using satellite dishes at a cost of around €129 per month. “We are in talks with various county enterprise boards to encourage a take up of this service. For example, a cluster of up to 15 different companies can share the one satellite dish.”

Smith continued: “In fact, the actual download speed is pretty much unlimited, but the way we are packaging the current offering will centre around an initial 2Mbps offering. We are currently in talks with five different companies in five different areas to establish the first customers of the service and prove the concept works.”

To get the ball rolling, GV Distribution will be embarking on a roadshow throughout May that will cover Cork (Jury’s Hotel, 13 May), Galway (Ardilaun House Hotel, 14 May) and Dublin (Red Cow Moran Hotel, 16 May) to raise awareness of broadband for business and the new satellite solution.

By John Kennedy