Lord Carter considers satellite option

Communications minister Lord Carter has pledged to seriously consider the option of satellite broadband as an option for universal service provision in the UK.

The minister's interim Digital Britain report was launched last week with the headline pledge to introduce broadband of a minimum speed of 2Mbps into ever British home by 2012.

As part of this, Lord Carter's team will engage in consultation with satellite broadband firms to gauge the feasibility of this technology to reach remote areas.

"There are a number of these newer business models for alternative forms of broadband distribution," the minister told the Sunday Telegraph.

Satellite communication service provider Avanti has previously expressed disappointment that the technology has not been better recognised for "solving broadband not-spots".

The company will this year launch a dedicated satellite, dubbed HylasOne, which has been designed to provide enhanced two-way data communications.

Aside supplying internet connections to business users, it is also claimed that this will be able to provide broadband of up to 8Mbps to around 300,000 UK households.