Meet Avanti, the telecoms company bringing rural businesses into the 21st century

Avanti provides satellite internet to communities left out of the superfast broadband revolution. Not only does the company, which employs 50 staff at its Operational site at Goonhilly Earth Station on The Lizard, help give businesses access to fast and reliable internet connections in rural Cornwall but it is conquering new markets in the Middle East and Sub Sahara Africa where laying down fibre is a geopolitical and geographical nightmare.

“It’s a postcode lottery in Cornwall when it comes to access to superfast broadband. There has been a lot of investment into superfast broadband but it has mainly gone into the more densely populated areas. If you are outside these areas coverage starts getting sparse.” said Andy Williams, business manager and coordinator for the superfast satellite programme with Avanti.

Business Growth:

Avanti became a public limited company in 2007 sending its first telecommunication satellite (Hylas 1) into geostationary orbit in 2010. Avanti was the first to provide dedicated high speed data communications (using Ka-Band) across the UK and Europe. Since then, they have continued to innovate and develop a world-leading satellite network infrastructure with a fleet of High Throughput Satellites providing high speed data communications.

This year Avanti launched its fourth satellite (Hylas 4) and all four satellites cover Europe, the Middle East and Africa. “Avanti help to connect people and grow businesses from rural Cornwall to the remotest parts of Africa. Businesses in Sub-saharan Africa have especially embraced satellite broadband as fibre is generally unavailable. There are remote locations in Africa which have better connectivity that some parts of Cornwall.”

Through the Cornwall scheme, Avanti, which offers 40mgb of data download for as little as £30 a month, now wants to expand its UK focus – especially in Cornwall and businesses in rural areas. They believe better connectivity could lead to much bigger growth in isolated places and the creation of hundreds of jobs. Following its recent significant reduction in pricing where prices have been slashed by 63%, the tech company revealed that its new less than a £1 a day internet service could help bring 6,500 local businesses out of the economic slow lane.

Why Cornwall?

“Goonhilly is a great location for us,” Mr Williams added. “We get a great visibility of our satellites which are deployed in orbit over Africa but not only that, Goonhilly has excellent internet infrastructure in place.”

“With the potential of Spaceport Cornwall project at Newquay Aerohub and Goonhilly Earth Station Ltd attracting investment, there is a clear momentum building in Cornwall to bring high tech satellite business to Cornwall, creating a UK leading Space cluster – which is fantastic news for the region. As a high tech satellite based operator this is also great news for us. To be part of a growing space cluster in the region is a great opportunity. A key focus for us here in Cornwall to support growth in the region, and through the superfast broadband scheme we can offer real benefit – especially to those rural businesses who cannot currently get fast and reliable internet connectivity in the region.”

If you want to find out more about what Cornwall can offer in the space technology industry get in touch with the Cornwall Trade and Investment team.

Read the full, original article on Cornwall Live.