The BT Tower. Photo: Graham C99 (Flickr)

[Via Satellite 12-07-2015] BT has signed a new contract with Avanti Communications to include the operator’s satellite communications as part of BT’s supply of wholesale consumer broadband services. These services will be sold to consumers in the U.K. through a network of satellite resellers under the auspices of the British Government’s Universal Service Commitment.

Under this plan directed by Broadband Delivery U.K. (BDUK), up to 300,000 homes that cannot access greater than 2Mbps from terrestrial networks will be eligible to receive a contribution from government to fund the installation of satellite broadband services, with the consumer then paying monthly service charges. The program is expected to go live during December.

“Our rollout of superfast broadband has already reached an additional 3.5 million homes and businesses who would otherwise have missed out. We are making tremendous progress, but it’s a massive engineering project and won’t happen overnight. This scheme offers immediate assistance to those homes and businesses in the most remote areas with the slowest speeds and is all part of our transformation of the U.K.’s digital landscape,” said Ed Vaizey MP, digital economy minister in the U.K.