DID YOU KNOW?

You can access satellite broadband where you are, all you need is a satellite dish and terminal: the purchase and installation of both can be covered by public funding if your local authority has a scheme in place. If you live where there is apparently 'no broadband coverage' ask your local authority to do the necessary to ensure satellite can connect you to the Internet now!

The European Commission and Council of Ministers has stated publicly that satellite ground equipment for broadband is eligible for public funding. The Commission has put guidelines in place with criteria that should help Member States understand what can and cannot be legally covered by such State Aid for broadband connectivity.

Satellite connectivity fits well with parts of the guidelines in that it meets vital criteria:

• Where there is an "existing infrastructure" in place, it should be preferred
• Member States have to invite competition from different operators and select the "best economic offer" from the proposals received.

Satellite infrastructure is already in place, enabled by private investments of ESOA members.

Satellite usually presents the 'best economic offer' for sparsely populated or remote areas as the example shows:

Case Study: Alta Valle di Reno, Italy

€400,000 was spent on 10 terrestrial repeaters to connect 30,000 inhabitants, after 6 months there were 150 subscribers!! Terrestrial connectivity for such a sparsely populated area therefore resulted in a cost per user of €2,666. Satellite connectivity for the same number of users would have been around €75,000 (assuming a cost per user of max €500).This shows how inefficiently precious public funds are sometimes used. It is not a justifiable use of taxpayers' monies at a time of austerity throughout Europe.

The Commission guidelines also present problems for satellite operators as they describe criteria which do not fit well with satellite technology. They require for example that the investment should result in the creation of an "open infrastructure" - this means an infrastructure with which different operators can provide competing services. Satellites are owned and operated by different operators and competition exists at end-user level as service providers offer different services and packages, which users can choose from.

Therefore this criteria cannot apply easily to satellite and therefore may give the impression that satellite cannot be considered for State Aid. This is NOT the case.

The Commission guidelines have been drafted with traditional terrestrial broadband in mind and not innovative solutions like satellite that have only come about in recent years.

Documents

• ESOA's submission to the Commission on the Guidelines.
• ISI and SFERA submission to the Commission on the Guidelines