The United Kingdom government is testing out Starlink broadband services for remote communities.
As per The Register, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport launched a trial run of more than a dozen “hard to reach” locations around the country.
These locations include mountainous and smaller islands that are expensive or difficult to run traditional cable lines.
Some of the areas include:
- Wasdale Head mountain rescue base in the Lake District
- Rievaulx Abbey in the North Yorkshire Moors National Park
- Ogwen Valley Mountain Rescue;
- and an outdoor activity centre in Snowdonia, Wales
The trial run is with Starlink, but the government continues to look into other solutions and services, including OneWeb.
Starlink was chosen due to its “readiness and availability of its technology”.
In a statement, Digital Secretary Michelle Donelan said this:
High-speed broadband beamed to Earth from space could be the answer to the connectivity issues suffered by people in premises stuck in the digital slow lane.
However, it is interesting that OneWeb was not chosen, especially considering that the UK government bailed out the company in 2020 from bankruptcy.
The $500 million investment kept OneWeb afloat, and the company is currently in the process of being bought by Eutelsat, with the UK government retaining a stake.
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