OnStar pulls plug on satellite broadband dream

Broadband4UK, run by entrepreneur Fraser Hay, was acting as marketing partner of OnStar Europe, the telecoms division of General Motors, which developed the Beam system of broadband delivery.

Beam promised faster internet access and would have been targeted at customers living in areas, such as rural Scotland, where broadband access is not available. Instead of phone lines, users would have access the internet via satellite dishes.

But OnStar has now decided not to offer the service in Europe following a sceptical response over installation costs, which were far more expensive than ADSL.

For a single PC user, access to Beam would have cost £99 a month after hardware and installation costs totalling £650. In comparison, Telewest’s Blueyonder cable package aimed at small business users comes in at £55 a month with installation costs of £150.

Broadband4UK said it was closing its business operations associated with Beam, but was working to secure an alternative partnership to bring “choice of provision of broadband to the UK and Europe”.

Link: www.broadband4uk.com