Ofcom has approved the use of 'Earth Stations' to provide faster internet to passengers in transit within the UK. The technology uses devices mounted upon moving vehicles to connect to geostationary satellites offering broadband services up to 10X faster than what is currently and not-as-reliably available from transport operators. Ofcom says speeds will be approximately 10Mbit/s per individual passenger.
While travelling by air/sea Ofcom sees the greatest utility value in these 'Earth Station' devices, however they will also offer another option to passengers on trains and coaches. Earth Stations on Mobile Platforms (ESOMPs) will be supported by the launch of commercial satellite networks this year transmitting in the frequency band 27.5 30 GHz and receiving in the band 17.3 20.2 GHz. This "relatively large amount of high-frequency spectrum," will provide "a considerable amount of data capacity," Ofcom told us in a press release today.
Philip Marnick, Group Director of Spectrum at Ofcom, said: "We want travellers to benefit from superfast broadband on the move at the kind of speeds they expect from their connection at home. Today’s decision means that operators of trains, boats and planes will soon be able to begin the process of making these valuable services available to their passengers."
During 2014 most of the arrangements required should fall into place; license applications for ship-mounted 'Earth Stations' should be able to be accepted next month and aircraft licenses are hopefully going to be available "in a similar time frame". Exempting UK land based transport from such licensing is expected to complete by summer. Ofcom expects the first commercial availability of ESOMP broadband services to be "later this year".
