Mr. Rory Fitzpatrick:

I thank members for the opportunity to come before the committee today to present on the topic of access to the Internet, particularly in relation to rural and regional locations and satellite Internet access. I am CEO of the National Space Centre Limited, NSC, a private Irish company operating in the satellite and space sector in Ireland for the past ten years. We operate Ireland's only carrier grade teleport at Elfordstown Earthstation in Midleton, County Cork. We are an Enterprise Ireland client company. The company delivers ground station infrastructure and services for many of Europe's biggest satellite operators as well as many new US space companies. We host many on-site ranging stations, satellite positioning services and launch vehicle telemetry and control systems. Services provided by our clients include both geosynchronous satellite broadband and low Earth orbit satellite broadband services. I will go into those in more detail shortly. The NSC has provided communications systems and services to both the Army and the Naval Service and is currently tendering for the multiple tender the Defence Forces are evaluating. I have more than 20 years' personal experience in the satellite and broadband industry in Ireland, which gives me an in-depth understanding of broadband infrastructure and how it is impacting the current market.

The national broadband plan which is the Government's initiative to deliver high-speed services to all premises in Ireland and which is currently being rolled out in phases, is a monumental undertaking. When complete, it will see the majority of premises served by commercial broadband or broadband with State intervention in areas where private companies do not invest. Despite this coupling, there will remain outlying segments that pose delivery challenges. These challenges are caused by the fact that it is cost prohibitive to deliver fibre-based infrastructure to remote regions. This is due to low population densities, ribbon development and legacy issues inherited from deregulation. In short, and as always, there will remain a last-mile segment that is inefficient to serve via standard fibre networks, whether commercially or through State intervention. Delivering access to broadband to these outliers requires a multifaceted solution of which satellite is a critical part. I wish to outline to the committee how satellite can assist the Government in delivering its broadband obligations and how NSC can contribute to the delivery of this solution, and the additional bonuses that can be leveraged for the State through the use of satellite networks.

Satellite broadband can deliver broadband anywhere. Whether in the middle of the ocean or on top of a mountain, it can deliver speeds of up to 200 Mbps download, with the only requirement being that there is a power connection to power the system. The difference between a satellite broadband system and a fibre-based broadband system in the context of the national broadband plan delivery is the price difference, which results in a feeling of inequality with which the public affected is not happy. Since the fibre network cost is subsidised and not passed on to the consumer, the consumer cost of fibre broadband appears lower than a satellite solution. With satellite solutions, equipment takes the place of infrastructure, but it is not subsidised. The challenge to the Government is to put all consumers on an equal footing. This can be easily addressed via a grant subsidy in place of infrastructural investment for outlying premises.

Regarding geosynchronous orbit, GEO, versus low-Earth orbit, LEO, satellites, NSC partners with a number of companies that offer both types of solution. I will go into them briefly to give the committee an idea of the approximate costs of a suitable technology. GEO satellite services have been available since circa 2000. A geosynchronous satellite sits at approximately 35,000 km above Earth at the equator and provides broadband to the end user via an associated network with a 600 millisecond, ms, delay, known as satellite latency. This is an important part of the issue because the delay makes such satellites a last resort to modern consumers, given that they do not fulfil the demands of gaming and management systems and also fall short on voice telecoms such as Zoom, which have become a critical part of our broadband infrastructure requirements.

LEO satellite broadband services are brand new to the market and operate without any latency issue. LEO satellites move in an orbit much closer to Earth - approximately 1,000 km - and provide broadband via a network of satellites and ground stations, achieving speeds of up to 200 Mbps. More LEO services are due on the market from OneWeb, Telesat, Amazon and other providers, but SpaceX's Starlink platform was the first to the market and is currently in beta phase and awaiting licensing. Its estimated retail cost is approximately €500 for the equipment and €99 per month for the service.

NSC offers co-location, management and consultancy services and is in a position to advise and assist in the delivery of satellite services to bridge the broadband gap and make high-speed broadband available to every premises in Ireland.