Satellite
Broadband
Potential
Demonstrated
Nereus
Workshop
16
February
2010
Newtec
announces
that
European
Commission
representatives,
led
by
director-general
Fabio
Colasanti,
of
the
Directorate
General
for
Information
Society
and
Media
(DG
INFSO),
and
additional
key
representatives
from
European
institutions
and
Regions,
attended
a
workshop
on
satellite
telecommunications
entitled
“Bringing
Broadband
to
the
Regions”.
Participants
agreed
that
satellite
Internet
should
play
a
vital
role
in
an
integrated
approach
to
reach
full
broadband
access
across
all
European
regions.
Hosted
in
Brussels
by
the
German
state
of
Baden-Württemberg,
the
list
of
participants
in
the
Network
of
European
Regions
Using
Space
Technologies
(NEREUS,
www.nereus-regions.eu)
inaugural
workshop
also
included
representatives
from
European
space
agencies
and
industry
associations.
Mrs
Aarti
Holla,
Secretary
General
of
the
European
Satellite
Operators
Association,
opened
the
workshop
with
a
live
demonstration
using
Newtec
Sat3Play®
technology.
The
attendees
had
the
opportunity
to
witness
the
real
potential
of
today’s
satellite
broadband
by
browsing
the
web
and
accessing
bandwidth-intensive
applications
like
video
streaming,
maps
and
Voice
Over
Internet
Protocol
(VoIP)
calls.
The
DG
INFSO
Director
General
noted
the
progress
made
by
satellite
technology
over
the
past
few
years
and
his
pleasant
surprise
at
the
excellent
quality
of
the
service.
He
was
invited
to
make
a
Skype
call
during
the
demonstration
and
did
so
with
ease
and
with
no
delay
in
the
communications.
The
event
made
it
clear
that
demonstrations
such
as
these
are
necessary
to
change
the
perceptions
of
the
older
generation
in
EU
institutions
and
elsewhere
who
still
judge
satellite
broadband
technology
based
on
outdated
performance
rates.
The
German
ministry
representative
from
Baden-Württemberg
noted
in
his
presentation
the
paradox
of
having
European
and
Member
States
governments
promoting
the
expansion
of
100
Mbps
fibre
broadband,
which
will
take
years
to
arrive,
while
there
are
rural
communities
with
no
connectivity
today
who
could
be
enabled
immediately
via
satellite.
Participants
in
the
NEREUS
workshop
agreed
that
satellite
Internet
should
play
a
vital
role
in
an
integrated
approach
to
reach
full
broadband
access
across
all
European
regions,
especially
when
terrestrial
solutions
are
prohibitively
expensive
and
not
realistic
for
the
entire
population.
They
called
upon
the
European
Commission
to
recognise
the
great
potential
of
satellite
to
achieve
100
per
cent
coverage.
talk Satellite welcomes comment -
comment@talksatellite.com
