Stanley’s Broadband Crossroads: From Copper Legacy to Fibre Future

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From a technological perspective, Stanley’s broadband network can be considered a legacy, end-of-life network that is long overdue for an upgrade. The network is still based on copper cable, utilising a mix of Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) and ADSL2 standards, as far as can be ascertained, which is often considered a stopgap solution in the absence of optical fibre networks in most countries today. Download speeds are constrained by signal loss over long copper cabling to homes and businesses.

ADSL History

ADSL was developed in the late 1980s and standardised in 1999 to provide faster internet speeds using regular telephone lines. It offered higher download speeds than upload speeds, making it well-suited for home and small business use, with performance reaching up to 8 Mbps.

ADSL2, introduced in 2002, improved connection speed, reliability, and power efficiency, increasing speeds to around 12 Mbps. A later version, ADSL2+, further boosted download speeds up to 24 Mbps, allowing users to enjoy better broadband performance without replacing existing copper phone lines.

VDSL (Very-high-bit-rate DSL) arrived in the early 2000s, offering faster connections over short copper lines. Its successor, VDSL2, was standardised 20 years ago in 2006 and promised speeds of up to 100 Mbps in both directions.

To the best of my knowledge, neither VDSL nor VDSL2 technologies have been deployed in the Falklands.

Stanley ADSL Network Upgrades.

Even a legacy ADSL/ADSL2-based network, such as the one deployed in Stanley, can be marginally upgraded, as shown in this Sure SA Facebook post.

“For the past few months Sure has been working hard to enhance the internet connectivity around Stanley by reducing internet line lengths for customers.

We shorten the lines by installing broadband equipment closer to where service is required, and this new building and new cabinet has made this possible. This means that customers who used to be connected to more distant equipment are now connected to these [fibre] cabinets enabling them to attain a higher or maximum line speed in line with their broadband packages. Since Cab 1 and 7 were connected, approximately 200 customers have been moved, with the potential for more customers both business and residential to be moved in the future.”

Picture credit: Sure Falkland Islands

Starlink arrives

Starlink has been a life-changing broadband service for those who now use it in the islands, even though FIG VSAT licences are still pending.

The rapid growth of Starlink usage has reshaped the broadband landscape in the Falklands. It is no longer just a solution for Camp or islands; it consistently delivers far better performance than the existing licensed broadband service in both speed and reliability. This is why hundreds of Starlink terminals are already in use across the islands today.

However, widespread Starlink usage in Stanley and Camp does not mean that a terrestrial network is not needed. While Starlink brings a critical and game-changing new high download speed option for connectivity, it cannot replace the role of a robust, land-based fibre network in Stanley. Fibre delivers far greater reliability, ultra-low latency, and virtually unlimited upgrade potential, making it the foundation for any long-term digital strategy for the islands.

The introduction of a Starlink Gateway connected to a future fibre backbone for Stanley, supplementing the existing geostationary satellite links and replacing the reliance on self-provisioned accounts, as outlined in my post “Connecting Communities: Inside Starlink’s Community Gateway,” could deliver symmetrical speeds of up to 10 Gbps. This capacity would vastly surpass the islands’ current Intelsat geostationary satellite backhaul, which provides only about 2.5 Gbps in total.

Satellite services like Starlink also enhance network resilience, as recently demonstrated in the 21st September 7-hour island-wide outage, when a local supermarket restored its point-of-sale capability during the blackout.

A hybrid approach, where fibre forms the backbone and Starlink provides excellent download speeds in comparison to the incumbent carriers’ GEO satellite-based broadband service, ensures the islands are both well-connected and resilient.

Investing in fibre will future-proof Stanley’s infrastructure, allowing for seamless integration with any future undersea cable and delivering ultra-high-speed connectivity without the need for costly upgrades later.

What is the best FTTP technology to use in Stanley?

There are three options to consider – GPON, XG-PON, and NG-PON2

• GPON (Gigabit Passive Optical Network) has been widely used since 2003, offering downstream speeds of 2.5 Gbps and upstream speeds of 1.25 Gbps. It is low-cost and mature, but asymmetrical and nearing the limits of its usefulness for new networks.
• XG-PON (10G-PON), standardised in 2016, provides 10 Gbps symmetrical speeds and a <5 ms latency. It is increasingly the global standard for new builds, making it a practical and future-proof choice, despite slightly higher costs.
• NG-PON2 (Next-Generation PON) delivers up to 40 Gbps using multiple optical wavelengths, offering extreme capacity and a future upgrade path.

Why XG-PON is the Right Choice for Stanley

Choosing the right fibre technology for Stanley comes down to several key factors. With around 1,500 homes and 100 businesses, the city represents a small market compared to typical fibre rollouts. Deploying a high-capacity solution like NG-PON2, which can deliver 40 Gbps, would be excessive; the network would never realistically be fully utilised.

At the same time, Stanley’s broadband demand is expected to grow in response to increased video streaming, remote work, cloud services, e-government, and telemedicine. A 10 Gbps symmetrical network, as offered by XG-PON, is more than sufficient for decades -especially if connected to a LEO gateway with geo-satellite connections for enhanced resilience.

Cost efficiency also plays a role: XG-PON equipment and contractors are widely available, and the technology is rapidly becoming the global standard, meaning Stanley can benefit from a mature ecosystem without overpaying or risking a short technology lifecycle, as could happen with GPON.

In short, XG-PON strikes the ideal balance between capacity, cost, and future-proofing for the Falklands.

Major architectural decisions

To get really technical for the moment, some major architectural decisions will need to be made, two of which I’ll mention here.

Star or Ring topology?

For Stanley’s fibre upgrade, choosing the right network architecture is crucial. Two standard options are star and ring, each with its own strengths.

A star network connects all homes and businesses directly to a central hub, as used in the current Stanley ADSL/ADSL2 network. It’s simple to install, easy to manage, and straightforward to troubleshoot. If one connection fails, only that node is affected. The main drawback is that the hub becomes a single point of failure, and each node requires its own fibre run. For a compact city like Stanley, a star network remains an efficient choice.

A ring network, by contrast, links nodes in a circular loop. Its main advantage is high resilience – if one fibre segment fails, traffic can be rerouted in the opposite direction.

Duct or aerial distribution?

When building a fibre-optic network, the choice between duct, aerial, or a hybrid approach is crucial.

Duct distribution places fibre cables underground, protecting them from weather, damage, and vandalism. It’s reliable, long-lasting, and visually unobtrusive – but costly and slow to install.

Stanley has few existing ducts, and replacing the ADSL/ADSL2 network with fibre would require new ducting along every street, an expensive and highly disruptive process.

Laying duct-based fibre Picture credit: Sure Falkland Islands

Aerial distribution, by contrast, runs cables overhead on poles or streetlights. It’s cheaper and faster to deploy, with easier maintenance, although it is more vulnerable to storms or falling branches. Aerial networks are ideal for rural or low-density areas.

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A hybrid model, combining ducts in backbone with aerial deployment elsewhere, may offer the most practical balance between reliability and cost.

Cost estimates

This is a cost estimate based on ‘fingers-in-the-air’ financial calculations to complete a fibre upgrade to Stanley, assuming soft-ground trenching and short drop lengths to homes.

A complete fibre upgrade to Stanley, assuming soft-ground trenching and short drops to homes, would involve several layers of investment:

• Trenching (12 miles of road at ~£30/m): ≈ £360,000

• Backbone network materials (cables, panels, splitters): ≈ £230,000

• Home connections (1,500 homes at ~5 m each): ≈ £225,000

• Equipment and testing (ONTs, terminations, etc.): £300,000 – £780,000

Total estimated cost: between £1.3 million and £1.8 million.

If the final drop to homes uses aerial connections via existing poles, several hundred thousand pounds could be saved, and the disruption of street-level trenching could be avoided. Using aerial distribution for the star or ring backbone could further reduce costs by 30–60%.

Conclusions

While ADSL/ADSL2-based networks played a vital role in connecting the Falklands in earlier years, they can no longer deliver the performance, reliability, or scalability required in a modern digital economy. A comprehensive upgrade to full fibre FTTP is essential to secure the islands’ long-term future international Internet connectivity, whether via a Starlink Gateway or undersea cable.

The technical solution is straightforward: replace the copper-based network with an XG-PON FTTP system, while embracing Starlink as a complementary layer of national infrastructure.

What remains to be defined is the governance and funding model – who will pay for the upgrade, who will own and operate the infrastructure, and how to ensure that all Falkland Islanders benefit from reliable, high-speed, and affordable broadband for decades to come. This topic was explored in  a previous OpenFalklands post – Holding islands hostage Part III: Telecommunications Options for 2028 and Beyond and Choosing the Right Public-Private Model for the Falklands beyond 2028.

Next week, let’s look at telecommunications in Camp.