UK in talks with Elon Musk’s Starlink over broadband rollout
The government is in talks with Elon Musk’s Starlink over using satellites to help roll out full-fibre broadband in the most remote parts of the UK.
Ministers today confirmed the launch of a £5bn plan to bring high-speed internet connections to properties across the country in the coming years.
The government had originally set the target of reaching all homes by 2025, but has since watered this pledge down to 85 per cent.
Officials are still weighing up options on how to reach the most remote rural areas such as the Scottish Highlands that are too difficult or expensive to reach through cable networks.
Discussions are now underway with Musk’s satellite internet firm Starlink, as well as British rival Oneweb, about using its network to beam internet services into difficult to reach areas.
BT, which is leading the rollout, is already in discussions with Oneweb over the plans.
Other possibilities are said to include “high-altitude platforms” such as balloons and drones, the Sun reported.
“This is part of our national mission to get everyone in the UK the fastest broadband on the planet, and we are making huge progress on that,” culture secretary Oliver Dowden told the BBC’s Today programme.
“But there are some challenges, so we are announcing subsidised gigabit broadband for some areas and in the very, very remote areas where even that won’t work we are looking at more innovative solutions. like satellite technology.”
Today the first areas targeted in its so-called Project Gigabit plans, which have formed a key part of the government’s levelling up agenda, were revealed.
Up to 510,000 homes and businesses in Cambridgeshire, Cornwall, Cumbria, Dorset, Durham, Essex, Northumberland, South Tyneside and Tees Valley will be the first to benefit.
It comes after BT’s rollout plans were given a major boost by regulator Ofcom, which ruled the telecoms giant’s wholesale full-fibre services will be free from price caps for at least a decade.