BT trials satellite internet

BT Group PLC 15 April 2002 April 15, 2002 BT WHOLESALE TO TRIAL FAST INTERNET BY SATELLITE BT Wholesale today announced that it is to start trials of a new satellite delivery service for high speed internet access across mainland UK. It will allow always-on receipt of e-mail as well as fast download of music, photos, presentations and other documents and is aimed at small businesses and high use residential customers. If successful, the service could be made available throughout the UK including rural areas beyond the reach of DSL broadband and cable. Paul Reynolds, chief executive of BT Wholesale, said: "This is an exciting development capable of delivering the benefits of fast, 'always-on', internet downloading right across the UK. It is not true broadband, but it will give much faster internet access to many people who could otherwise be denied. "We believe this will be a valuable, additional way of providing fast internet to areas beyond the reach of conventional broadband and shows we are pushing forward on many fronts with simple, competitive solutions for customers." The service will download via a 65cm receive-only satellite dish, at speeds of up to 256 kbit/s and will also provide 'always-on' satellite downstream delivery of emails and selected internet pages. Higher speeds, up to 4Mbit/s, will be available on a pay-as-used basis as the trial progresses. The return path will be via a conventional phone line. Experience in Europe shows there is a demand for this type of service, and, as an infill technology, BT Wholesale believes this will also be the case in the UK. Currently more than 70 per cent of internet users in the UK are connected to 1010 BT exchanges which have been enabled for ADSL broadband. Work is underway to enable a further 100 exchanges and BT is continuing to explore a range of technologies to meet the broadband needs of customers outside those areas. The satellite high speed internet access trial will start in late May, and is scheduled to last for six months. Service provider triallists will be selected on criteria to include willingness to market in non ADSL-enabled areas. The trial wholesale price is likely to be less than £15 a month rental to service providers with a one-off connection charge, expected to be less than £400, for the equipment and installation of the dish at the end user's site. The charge to end-users will be set by the service providers. End users will also have to build in the cost of the phone line to upload their data back to the internet. It is anticipated that download speeds of up to 256kbit/s and ' always-on' downloading of emails and selected internet pages will be inclusive in the monthly rental fee, and free of usage charge. There would be a further usage charge for a number of speed selections up to 4Mbit/s - enabling customers to opt for faster speeds only when they require larger amounts of data. ------------------------------------------------ Inquiries about this news release should be made to the BT Group Newsroom on its 24 hour number: 020 7356 5369. From outside the UK dial +44 20 7356 5369. All news releases can be accessed at our web site: www.btplc.com/mediacentre This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

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