Other broadband technologies

Written on 1:36 PM by ooe

Cable modems are already established as a viable broadband access mechanism, and can be expected to provide a significant percentage of the broadband connections within the UK.

UMTS will develop, but the technology lags behind the broadband capability of fixed access solutions of cable and ADSL. Hence it would not be unreasonable to believe that although it is likely to be the mobile broadband technology, it will not replace fixed broadband technologies.

The BFWA technology will also develop but the government does not expect the technology to represent more than about 6% of the UK market. It is expected that the main use will be as an access technology for those who cannot obtain DSL or cable.

At present, two-way satellite communication is under development which will make it more competitive as a technology. However, the government believe it likely to be a very expensive solution compared to DSL or cable and therefore sees the satellite market restricted to competing with wireless in areas of DSL unavailability. Another problem for the satellite technology is that it is significantly behind the other technologies in terms of maturity. Hence, by the time it is sufficiently developed to compete with ADSL based services, it is quite possible that VDSL systems will be available and with a much greater capacity.

Fibre is likely to be a solution for the larger businesses, though it is unlikely to be used for widespread broadband access until there is sufficient user demand to go at least to the VDSL type date rates and probably beyond. The sheer capacity of a fibre-based solution does, however, make it an attractive solution in the longer term. 6