Broadband satellite dish scheme offered to remote parts of UK

To help solve the broadband woes being experienced by some rural parts of the UK, the Government is going to start offering money towards satellite broadband dishes.

The satellite dishes will be made available to areas that have either no broadband available, or only very slow connections. Under the new initiative, 350,000 homes and businesses that only have access to broadband speeds of two Mbps or less can claim £350 to cover the installation costs of a broadband satellite dish.

Some of the most hard-to-reach parts of Britain stand to benefit from the Government scheme. The offer will run throughout December as part of the Conservatives' drive to make sure that all homes and businesses in the UK have access to broadband speeds of at least two Mbps by the end of the year.

Digital economy minister Ed Vaizey commented: "This scheme offers immediate assistance to those homes and businesses in the most remote areas with the slowest speeds and is all part of our transformation of the UK’s digital landscape."

According to the Government, any installation costs that go beyond the £350 handout will have to be covered by the homeowner or business. Users will also have to cover the cost of the broadband subscription.

At present it is estimated that 90 per cent of the UK have access to superfast broadband, with the Government targeting 95 per cent coverage by 2017. Furthermore, under a new USO, everyone in Britain will have the right to demand broadband speeds of at least 10 Mbps by 2020.

For remote parts of the UK, where it becomes very expensive to lay the necessary infrastructure for superfast broadband, satellite broadband - in which the signal is picked up by a dish attached to the property - has been touted as a good option to improve their connectivity.

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