Rural fast Broadband – a Wireless solution!
The South Downs Society today (5 April 2010) called on the government to consider the wireless alternative to fibre optic cable as a solution for fast broadband access in rural areas like the South Downs, and further afield.
John Songhurst, Chairman of the South Downs Society, said: “Talking to members and friends along the Downs, both chalk and greensand, about the Broadband problem, it has become clear that more are using a Fixed Wireless Access service – fixed means not mobile – which is providing reliable Internet Broadband service at speeds between 8 and 13 Mbps, which is fast. Also, this Wireless Service completely avoids the ‘last mile’ landline monopoly of BT.”
The Fixed Wireless Access Broadband service uses the 5 GHz waveband reserved by the Radio Communications Agency. This transmission band is relatively low powered with a range of twenty miles, which is both safe and interference free. It requires line-of-sight for the repeater and receiver units, which are unobtrusive, about the size of a small cake tin, and can be sited on chimneys, tall trees or grain silos. As an example, a Sussex grown company, Kijoma, based near Pulborough (www.kijoma.net) is successfully providing this Wireless Broadband service with widening coverage in Sussex, Hampshire and Surrey.
The Department of Business, Innovation & Skills issued a consultation document for the ‘Next Generation Fund’, which favours subsidy of fibre optic cable, virtually ignoring fixed wireless access technology. The South Downs Society is very concerned that this bias discriminates against thinly dispersed rural communities. A campaign is therefore being orchestrated by the Society, with its partners at national level, to ensure that subsidies for Fixed Wireless Access Broadband are also available to rural communities.
There is strong pent-up demand for fast Broadband Internet access across rural Sussex from farmers, businesses, householders and students, which would enable rural communities to compete with the towns and coastal conurbation.
The problem is the inability of copper telephone landlines to carry modern digital traffic beyond a short distance (1- 2 miles). Ideally, these copper landlines would be replaced with fibre optic cable, which offers large digital capacity.
“Major suppliers, such as BT and Virgin, have made it clear that they will not invest in fibre optic cable for rural communities due to lack of profitability, without major government subsidy, The Government is proposing a Broadband ‘Next Generation Fund’ by charging 50p per landine user, which will be used to provide Broadband speeds of up to 2 Mbps (megabits per second) for up to 90% of consumers. This is not only pathetically slow, but further discriminates against rural communities who make up the ‘last’ 10 to15% of the population” said John Songhurst.
“However, a Wireless Broadband service is growing rapidly in some rural areas, which appears to be providing a reliable short-cut to fast Broadband access.”