Satellite Internet accelerates and there are already seven providers in Portugal
The share of Internet, which in Portugal is national access to data provided by satellite, is still scarce, but the number of territories is growing well, in national territory, according to those released by Comunicações (Anacom) ), released on Friday. .
“The penetration of Portugal in this way is very high in access access, close to reaching total access, 03% of total access. % compared to the same period of the previous year”, see Anacom in the report “Satellite Internet Access Service – Availability, monthly fees and attributes”.
Since 2018, this type of internet access has shown a growth rate. In just two – between 2018 and 2020 – “only subscribers to this service increased by 78.5%. Portugal.
As entities that provide internet via satellite are Eutelsat (Konnect), Greenmill (Tooway), Nextweb (Onesat), Satellite da Doria (Bigblu), skyDSL Europe (SkyDSL), Starlink and Vivasat. Of these seven, only Eutelsat, Nextweb, Starlink and Vivasat use their own satellite network. A Greenmill, a Bigblu and SkyDSL use the Eutelsat network.
“Satellite internet access offers advertised by providers on their websites allow download speeds of up to 100 Mbps [megabits por segundo] and network upload speeds of 10 Mbps”.
The monthly fee for commercial offers for internet access via satellite is “generally higher than the residential offers” of the historic fixed or mobile networks. However, Anacom offers differentiated offers that are increasingly competitive.
various types of offers, with the monthly fees of the seven providers ranging from a minimum of 12.90 euros (per eight gigabytes of traffic) to a maximum of 770.73 euros (500 euros per gigabytes of traffic). According to the report, this type of service “exterior is the installation of a small satellite dish and a router outside and designed”. The cost of installation and equipment can be close to 200 euros in some.
Operators sell or rent equipment, the installation of which is supplied and, after sale by the customer available for service or able to provide the service, this is indicated.
Internet access via satellite is “a high-speed bidirectional service, especially aimed at accessing the Internet in remote areas, with low population density and/or more complex terrain”. He refers to the regulator, which is “an essential means” to minimize digital asymmetries in the country and address territorial discontinuity”, taking into account the case of the Azores and Madeira archipelagos. “It is additionally a resource system for effects of the effects of emergency communications”.
“Regardless of the chosen solution (GEO satellite, such as the Eutelsat, SES or ViaSat satellites, or new low-orbit systems, such as the SpaceX Starlink system or the OneWeb system), the internet via satellite will help to address the problem of internet access in rural or remote areas and in small towns where fiber optic infrastructure is non-existent”, says Anacom.
In Portugal, three gateway stations are installed, that is, they provide a satellite network. One is O3B, licensed since September 2013, another is OneWeb, licensed since September 2019, and Eutelsat, licensed in March 2020. “The first two located in the Sintra Satellite Center, and the third in Madeira “, specifies the communications regulator, revealing that in 2021 it was contacted for the licensing of an earth gateway station.
Among the advantages and conditions of this resource for an internet-accessible system, the service provision is influenced by the sizing of the antennas, which can help to reduce a standard size of antenna adjustment, which can help specialized”. or traffic cap, there is a limitation of data for use. However, nevertheless, “the satellite is available anywhere” and guarantees the continuity of service in emergency situations, in addition to that “some offers (not many ) are fast via cable, ADSL or 3G mobile network”.
