Avanti in European Space Agency project award

Broadband satellite operator Avanti Communications has been awarded a contract by the European Space Agency contributing €250,000 to the cost of work on a preliminary design review of a new satellite system called Hercules.

The Hercules system could provide broadband services at speeds between 2Mbps and 50Mbps to the approximately 2.5 million rural homes in the UK that are unable to access terrestrial high-speed broadband. Avanti said the system has been proposed to the UK government’s Department of Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform as part of Avanti’s response to the Digital Britain consultation.