Satellite is a great option to cover the most challenging areas of the country. For it to be successful, market incentives will need to be created
A good way to connect the final two percent: Sweden is looking at satellite broadband to boost connectivity in the most hard-to-reach areas. The regulator PTS was tasked by the Government to assess how satellite can help achieve Sweden’s broadband targets for 2025, and concluded that it is “the only realistic alternative” to cover the remaining parts of the country. By 2025, Sweden aims to have full coverage of ‘fast broadband’. Three conditions must be met for the target to be reached: 98% of households and businesses should have access to 1Gbps; of the remaining 2%, 1.9% should have access to 100Mbps speeds; and 0.1% should have access to 30Mbps speeds. The PTS believes that the market will deliver on the gigabit target, while satellite can help with the remaining 2%.
Stronger market incentives will be needed: Major investments are being made in satellite technologies, which should result in a large increase in capacity available for broadband services. The PTS expects that, by 2025, one or more satellite operators will be able to cover the entire country with speeds of 100Mbps. This is likely to be the most cost-effective solution in areas where even FWA could be not viable due to cost despite the availability of public funding (the government has allocated a total of SEK2.3bn (£186.4m) for the hard-to-reach areas). At the same time, the PTS recognises that more work needs to be done for this solution to be successful, since the incentives for satellite operators to enter the Swedish market are not necessarily forthcoming. Satellite is currently a very small segment of the Swedish broadband market (recently as few as 150 subscribers). The PTS suggests that information campaigns will be necessary to raise awareness among consumers, and address any concern that satellite might be perceived as a worse alternative compared to other technologies.
The global race to space: Internationally, there has recently been a clear interest in the role of satellite broadband in delivering ubiquitous connectivity. The European Commission is looking to create a connectivity system worth €6bn which would also act as a backup to the EU’s existing digital infrastructure, and could be offered to third countries (especially African countries, to provide them with an alternative to Chinese infrastructure). In the US, legislation has been recently proposed to facilitate entry into the satellite market and ensure spectrum is shared efficiently between satellite operators. In India, the Government is set to announce a policy to facilitate foreign players. Similar initiatives are being considered in other large countries where deploying broadband infrastructure poses challenges, such as Brazil.
