Rural clients, to enjoy only second-rate service from NBN

Seven percent of Australians live in remote or rural areas. In these far-flung locations, the NBN’s fibre footprint runs shorts. Instead, fixed wireless or internet from satellite will be the services offered. But are they second-rate?

Urban regions connected via the fibre networks of the NBN are expected to enjoy up to 100mpbs download speeds, a far cry from the 12mpbs rural clients will be getting via satellite or fixed wireless. The disparity in download and uploads speeds have compelled local officials affected by the fibre connection cut-off to say, “unfair”.

 

Town mayors across the remote areas down under are complaining that the satellite or fixed-wireless service will not be able to support the more bandwidth-intensive applications their communities require. Applications like tele-health and online education may suffer latency issues under the proposed non-fibre solutions by the NBN. In fact, many other residents of remote Australian town are pointing out the NBN’s design flaw. The company has not included the millions of Australian citizens, as well as tourists, who head towards the outback, and move to different rural locations several times a year, in its broadband project.

The question being raised now: Are rural Australian residents any less important than those residing in the cities?

 

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YahClick Go to be made available in Africa

One of Vox Telecom’s most popular service, the YahClick Go, will be made available in Africa by January of next year. The YahClick Go satellite broadband terminal, in demand because it can be conveniently deployed anywhere for easy internet on satellite access, will be introduced to the South African market at the start of the new year.

 

A terminal installed on an SUV

According to Jacques Visser, project manager of YahClick at Vox, the units have already been tested in various locations in South Africa. The mobile devices will work with the new, and more powerful, Ka band spectrum, and would deliver uplinks of up to 5 mbps. The satellite broadband terminal can easily be installed on an SUV or trailer, and was designed to be light enough for easy transport. Visser said the device is perfect for those who need Internet-on-the-go and works well for broadcasting purposes, like live streaming.

 

The new mobile broadband systems which will make use of the Ka band spectrum have been designed to be operated by a single user, with a friendly interface that will not require any technical skills from one using it. The high-speeds offered by the terminal can be used for uploading and downloading large files including video content.

 

In the Middle East, the YahClick Go service is being marketing to the media and broadcasting sector. News reporters working on the field require Internet access to send files and transmit videos. Visser said this is the first system to make us of the new spectrum, Ka band.

 

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ViaSat turning to high-speed Internet service for revenue

Photo by Sean Gallagher

 

Despite stocks down a third from eight months ago, wireless communications and technology provider ViaSat is banking on its satellite broadband service Exede, launched during the last quarter of FY 2012, to move on from its dependence on US Government sales. Almost half of the company’s revenue comes from defense contracts.

 

Investors were unimpressed with the rollout of the internet from satellite service, with company stocks sliding to $35 from $50 just eight months ago. However, ViaSat Chief Executive Mark Danberg, clarifies that despite lukewarm reception from investors, almost 40% of the current 20,000 subscribers are already moving to the high-speed Internet service.

 

Mr Danberg also explained the move to a new field was sparked not by shrinking Government contracts, rather its slow growth compared to other sectors of the company’s business. ViaSat has been said to be moving swiftly to non-Government satellite service to avoid the impact of government budget cuts. The home internet service already grew 31 percent during the past quarter, and Visat expects to cut-off government satellite service-based revenue by 10, from 45% to 35% in the next five years.