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[Admin]

The Communications Ministry and satellite company Hellas Sat have finalised a deal to provide rural areas with broadband internet and digital television services.

According to the head of the Electronic Communications Department, Stelios Chimonas, the state will be given €3.5 million, as well as €4.3 million worth of cable services.

The ministry plans to use the services to connect isolated areas and schools with broadband internet, expand the transmission for CyBC programmes and other specialised services.

Hellas Sat director Christodoulos Protopapas yesterday told Phileleftheros newspaper that the agreement would contribute to government efforts to bridge the digital gap in Cyprus, as the satellite company has done in Greece as well as 30 other counties where it is active.

The proposed services include cable telecommunications for security bodies and government services and provide wireless cable internet in communities where it is impossible to use the land web.

The deal has been under discussion for years.

In late October, when Communications Minister Nikos Nikolaides presented his ministry’s annual budget, he said one of his main objectives was to improve broadband internet and digital television services for rural areas, which he said enjoyed considerably less perks than those living in urban areas.

“There is a digital chasm when it comes to urban and rural areas,” Nikolaides told reporters after the session. “Urban areas enjoy much better services, resulting in unfair treatment. Our aim is to offer each Cypriot publican what they are entitled to.”

_{source: Cyprus Mail}

[falconcy]

The actual cost of delivering an ADSL comparable service by satellite will not be viable for most end users. As with many things in Cyprus, plenty of talk and very little chance of it actually materialising.

Two way services using iDirect, Linkstar or Hughes hardware have a pretty high startup cost which will eliminate most people. Then there's the actual services, even with 10:1 or 20:1 sharing, nobody will get full speed at any time, just the occasional burst. Service costs cannot compete with terrestrial ADSL, they won't even come remotely close to it.

One way services will still need a dialup and this can work out pricey too. Again, QoS will come into play. There will be severe quota restrictions in force on speed and the amount that can be downloaded.

All of these services are already available from existing providers in this field. If they were viable for the masses then they would already be using them. Satellite based services also have a bit of a learning curve and would be beyond most end users, requiring a lot of support.

Even Cyta offers satellite services and they did not really make inroads into the market. Other providers have a few customers, yet not enough to make it viable as a business model.

At this point in time, I'm not seeing much more than talk and unless they are planning to heavily subsidize the service or have another viable business model for this then I cannot see this actually materialising.