XtndNet Launches UK Network
to Connect Forgotten Broadband Customers
16 March 2022.
The UK has been near the bottom
in rural broadband league tables for years, and the
government estimates that more than 500,000
properties cannot currently reach the Universal
Service Obligation standard of 10 Mb download.
Recently, Openreach, a division of BT responsible
for providing infrastructure to the majority of the
broadband customers in the UK, has suspended
community-based infrastructure improvements until an
unspecified future date. More than half a million
customers who have poor, unreliable broadband have
no real solution to improve their connectivity.
Until now.
Arabsat, Developing
Infrastructure, and Forsway are pleased to announce
the formation of XtndNet, a radically new broadband
ISP targetting under-connected customers. XtndNet
offers a hybrid service, combining ADSL, mobile
Internet, and satellite connection -- the XtndNet 12
Gigabit Space Superhighway -- to deliver an
affordable, fast, and reliable broadband connection.
The service is available now in the United Kingdom
and Ireland, and will expand to Germany,
Scandinavia, the Baltics, and Africa in the next few
months.
Powered by Arabsat's BADR-7
High Throughput Satellite, based on Forsway's Xtend
platform, and designed and headed by speciality
consultants from Developing Infrastructure, XtndNet
will offer users typical speeds of 25 Mb download --
which may not sound like much, but many of these
users are stuck less than 3 Mb, and have no other
options available today.
Travis Mooney-Evans, Principal
Consultant for Developing Infrastructure, designed
the project and will serve as XtndNet's CEO.
"The key the XtndNet project
was finding a satellite operator who could see the
opportunity," said Mr. Mooney-Evans. "Most satellite
operators are happy to do the same thing everyone
else does, and it takes a visionary operator to take
a risk on something different -- and Arabsat is that
visionary operator."
Coverage is assured by Ka and
Ku beams on Arabsat BADR-7, with both European and
African footprints.
"We looked for a way to
differentiate our satellite capacity, and the
XtndNet project was innovative," said Dr. Badr
Alsuwaidan, Acting President and CEO of Arabsat.
"Developing Infrastructure and Forsway brought
something new, and we are proud to be the satellite
operator to power the solution."
The XtndNet network offers
several technical benefits, starting with an up to
20x improvement in download speeds, lower latency
than traditional satellite broadband, greater
resilience due to use of multiple network paths, and
a simple installation -- no more complicated than
installing satellite TV.
"There's a lot of talk about
satellite's integration into 5G, which is great if
you have deep pockets and want ubiquitous coverage,"
said Tobias Forsell, CEO of Forsway. "But for
regular people who struggle with any sort of
connectivity, that's a pipe dream. The XtndNet
service provides something that makes their life
better today, enabling the services that people
depend on day-to-day."