Focussing on telecommunications on the Falkland Islands
Observations. This is a long and very technical post, but it is necessary to examine the issues. Before I start, I wish to clarify three points. Sure’s ‘low-latency’ LEO service isn’t likely to compete with Starlink from a performance perspective and will probably remain, for some considerable time, the second-choice solution for the Falkland Islands’ low-latency needs to Europe (assuming […] Read More
Warning! This is a long issue, as it captures all the action concerning Starlink use in the Falkland Islands since Part 4 was published in late May 2024; this takes us through to 14th June 2024. Enjoy! I want to thank the islands’ media, Penguin News, Falkland Islands Radio, and Falkland Islands TV, for their excellent reporting of the Starlink […] Read More
In September 2022, the history behind the £5,400 VSAT (Starlink) licence fee. In Part 1, The Ascension Island Story, I outlined the history of Starlink adoption on Ascension Island. Part 2, The Falkland Islands Enigma, focused on the Starlink situation in the Falkland Islands. Part 3 broadens things by proposing a workable digital service strategy that provides a win-win solution for consumers, […] Read More
In Part 1, The Ascension Island Story, I outlined the history of Starlink adoption on Ascension Island. Part 2, The Falkland Islands Enigma, focused on the Starlink situation in the Falkland Islands. Part 3 broadens things by proposing a workable digital service strategy that provides a win-win solution for consumers, businesses, FIG, and Sure Falkland Islands. The Falkland Islands deserve […] Read More
In Part 1, The Ascension Island story, the history of Starlink adoption on Ascension Island was outlined, although this story is far from finished. Part 2 focuses on Starlink in the Falkland Islands. Much has been written and discussed about Starlink in the islands’ media recently, as things seem to be coming to a head. If you are interested, please […] Read More
21st June 2024 update: It’s been a while since I published the history of VSAT legislation in the Falkland Islands in September 2022, which describes what led to sky-high VSAT licence fees of £5,300 to deter applicants. However, much recent activity has about Starlink in the islands where Sure Falkland Islands has a communications monopoly until 31st December 2027. Through […] Read More
Update: September 28th 2022. Although this is ‘old news’, it is still worth publishing; I’ve managed to get hold of a recording of the 10th May 2021 public meeting hosted by Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) where questions were raised about Starlink and where it was confirmed that LEOs are being treated as VSATs from a legal perspective. Source: […] Read More
Source: About St Helena The 16th September 2022 issue of the St Helena Independent newspaper on page 3 discusses the plan for an island-wide fibre-optic network. You can read the original article here: St Helena Independent. Note: Please remember that this has only been enabled through the Google Equiano undersea cable coming to St Helena. An undersea cable to the […] Read More
Since 2020 there has been a tremendous increase in consumer interest in LEOs in the Falkland Islands, but this has been myopically focused on SpaceX’s Starlink service. A OneWeb LEO satellite (Source: OneWeb) Caveat: This post is based on public information. Its views are those of the author alone. I last wrote about Starlink in 2021 when the company announced […] Read More
The Falkland Islands Communications Regulator has directed Seba, VP8/SQ1SGB to cease his amateur radio operation from Halley Research Station, Antarctica forthwith. This post shows the email exchange that is currently taking place with the Regulator. Seba’s press release: OCTOBER 11, 2021 – Seba, SQ1SGB will again be active from Halley VI(a) Base, Antarctica as VP8/SQ1SGB starting November 18, 2021 and staying until January 31, […] Read More
Update 28th October 2021 The South Georgia Government have now completed their consultation so now it is the turn of the British Antarctic Territory Government which is now undergoing a similar exercise. This is good news! Dear All, Today we have published new draft Wireless Telegraphy legislation for the British Antarctic Territory. This new legislation will provide power to issue […] Read More
Open Letter to the Falkland Islands Communications Regulator Alan Cheshire MInstP MIET MIEEE G4EEL VK6CQ VKØLD VP8PJ Telecoms Engineer, Perth Western Australia Chris Gare FIET G3WOS VP8DBL VP8WOS ZD8SIX Board Advisor, Farnborough UK Dr. Gerard Bulger FRCGP G3WIP VP8DPD VK4BGL VKØGB Medical Officer, King Edward Memorial Hospital, Stanley FI Michael Gloistein PM GMØHCQ VP8CMH/MM Radio & Electronics Officer, RRS Sir […] Read More
Update: 28th April 2021 After several months of protracted discussions, the Falkland Islands Communications Regulator has provided a final opportunity for non-resident lifetime, VP8 licence owners to have their VP8 callsigns revalidated. The Regulator issued the following direction on the 27th April 2021. Notice of Direction made by the Falkland Islands Communications Regulator addressed to those who hold or have held […] Read More
Update: 27th March 2021 The annual Falkland Islands Regulator’s report was recently issued and this was what was said about South Georgia, South Sandwich Islands (SGSSI) and British Antarctic Territory (BAT) Amateur Radio Licencing: “South Georgia, South Sandwich Islands (SGSSI) and British AntarcticTerritory (BAT) Amateur Radio Licences. Following an EXCO decision in mid2020 to enable the Regulator to issue SGSSI […] Read More
On the 12th March 2021, the Falkland Islands Communications Regulator (Regulator) posted “Problems Receiving Some UK Texts” on Facebook, which can be read below. OpenFalklands addressed the same issues in May 2019 and June 2019, so I am disappointed that it seems little has changed. However, I am more disappointed about what was NOT discussed in the post – a possible […] Read More
It’s been a quiet year on OpenFalklands with less opportunity to write technical articles about Falkland Islands telecommunications subjects (I’ve done most!) and with a move towards practical involvement and engagement in real issues. So it’s with great pleasure to bring to readers attention the opportunity to radically transform Falkland Islands telecommunications one step nearer – Elon Musk’s SpaceX satellite […] Read More
News about telecommunications that would be interesting to Falkland Island consumers or businesses.
Source: St Helena Independent – VOLUME XV ISSUE 48, 6th NOVEMBER 2020 A new Telecommunications company is being proposed for St Helena.
There has been confusion about the legality of local IP services or applications with Sure South Atlantic’s Exclusive Operating Licence in place. This concern has now been removed. As discussed in a previous post, I found there was a caveat in the Licence that allowed for the creation of local OTT applications without breaking Sure’s exclusive communications licence: “for the […] Read More
Update #4: 23rd October 2020 This will probably be the last update on this issue. I am pleased to report that I have been notified by many non-resident VP8 licence holders that their lifetime VP8 licences have been restored for use in the Falkland Islands only. This is a continuing issue for those who want to use their VP8 licences […] Read More
Previous updates concerning the Communications Regulator Notice of Appeal maybe seen here and here. UPDATE #5: 7th August 2020. Here is the Falkland Islands TV’s report on the first hearing of the Gare v. Communications Regulator case held in the Magistrates court in Stanley, Falkland Islands. UPDATE #4: 1st August 2020. Yes, you read the title of this post correctly. […] Read More
The full background to this issue can be read in a previous post here Update #3 17th July 2020. A short video on the Appeal was shown on FITV‘s Falklands in Focus. No, it’s not me in the video, unfortunately! Thank you for the coverage FITV! Original Post Following the email received from the Falkland Islands Communications Regulator, on Friday […] Read More
Please read the original post that may be found further down. Then Update #2 and #3. Update #3 – 15th July 2020 This later post describes the current status of the issue. I’ve raised a Notice of Appeal for this decision to be be decided by a judge in the Magistrates Court. Update #2 – 1st July 2020 I received […] Read More
It has been proposed by several Falkland Island hams that a new amateur radio society should be formed in the Falkland Islands that would be open to membership from any resident or non-resident individuals interested in amateur radio. A proposed name could be the ‘Falkland Islands Amateur Radio Society’ (FIARS). Most countries have a national amateur radio society and many […] Read More
The original post can be found further down. Update #9: 7th August 2020 I have today sent a further email to Sure Falkland Islands. To: Chief Executive, Sure South Atlantic Subject: OTT service provider oriented Internet Access product Dear Sir I sent an email on June 30th 2020, which is now over one month ago, concerning the availability of a […] Read More
The original post may be found below. Update #2: 3rd July 2020 The PCC’s report in January stated that an apology and compensation of £5,000 be made to KTV Ltd by the Falkland Islands Government (FIG) for the interference they experienced. That has now been agreed by the Executive Council and the recommendations have been accordingly implemented. The Executive Council’s […] Read More
In a recent post, I added a footnote talking about the competence requirements needed to obtain a full Falkland Islands amateur radio licence in the new licencing regime. I thought I would delve into it a little more. Photo credit: RSGB “In the new VP8 amateur radio licence Terms and Conditions, visiting radio amateurs applying for a Full Temporary licence […] Read More
Update, 21st MaRCH 2020 I’ve sent an email to MLAs To: Falkland Islands MLAs cc: Falkland Islands Attorney General Although this is an important issue for the Falkland Islands, but because I’m sure that all your focus and time is being spent on Corona Virus issues, I would like to withdraw this request until things have calmed down a bit. […] Read More
Update; 7th February, CoC meeting Please take a look at the FITV‘s short report on the closed meeting held at The Chamber of Commerce (CoC) on Thursday 6th February 2020. The presentations made by the Falkland Islands Government and Sure South Atlantic were intended to update CoC members about the National Broadband Strategy. The FITV video included an interview […] Read More
Following my previous post – National Broadband Strategy: Subsea cable study, there is a subject that has not had sufficient public debate – Internet blackout resilience and business continuity. With two Internet significant outages in the last year in April and November, Falkland Islanders know all too well about the consequences of an unavailable Internet. I’ll always remember the November […] Read More
I have waited with high expectation for the publication of the Falkland Islands Broadband Strategy as proposed in the March 2019 Telecommunications Week. The only associated release so far was the 25th September EXCO paper on the doubling of satellite capacity in December 2019. One of the reasons I wanted to see it was to get a better understanding of […] Read More
I had a busy trip to the Falkland Islands in November and I want to thank all those individuals that helped make my visit so enjoyable – they know who they are! I was surprised that many people recognised my face and stopped me in the street to say that they enjoyed OpenFalklands as it provided much more information about […] Read More
Final Update #12: 12th December 2019 I am pleased to report that I have heard from IANA that diversity has at long last been added to the FK .ccTLD DNS that was only located on the Falkland Islands breaking IANA’s fundamental policy for a need of diversity on a Top Level Domain such as .FK. Dear Chris, I am writing […] Read More
On Thursday 28th November 2019, I gave a presentation in the Chamber of Commerce in Stanley, Falkland Islands concerning the Islands’ Internet service. This was attended by the editor of Penguin News and was included in last week’s issue. I would like to thank them for allowing me to publish this on OpenFalklands and would wholeheartedly encourage anyone to subscribe […] Read More
On Thursday 28th November 2019, I gave a presentation in the Chamber of Commerce in Stanley, Falkland Islands concerning the Islands’ Internet. This was videoed by Falkland Islands TV and an overview was included in their weekly show. I would like to thank FITV for allowing me to publish this segment on OpenFalklands and would wholeheartedly encourage anyone to subscribe […] Read More
I gave the following well-attended presentation to an audience in the Chamber of Commerce in Stanley, Falkland Islands at 17:00 Thursday, 28th November 2019. The title of the presentation was “Falkland Islands Internet – some thoughts”. You can see the presentation by using the viewer below. [slideshare id=202305393&doc=novemberopenfalklandspresentation-linkedinonlineversion-191206142009] You can also access, share or download the presentation on the LinkedIn […] Read More
Update #4: 6th December. Following comments on Facebook, there seem to be continuing issues with regard to unstable Internet routes to the Falkland Islands since the November 25th planned outage. This will result in unpredictable performance as experienced by users. Update #3: 09:30 Wednesday, 27th November. Sure Falkland islands announced a further planned outage yesterday: By the look of it, […] Read More
Update #8: 10th November 2019 Sadly, it looks like there are still ongoing issues with the Falkland Islands Internet service after receiving several emails and social media messages yesterday about unreliable connections to some web sites. This is a classic symptom of the instability of Internet routing paths caused by connectivity dropouts or DDoS attacks. Whatever the cause(s), it is […] Read More
In October 2019 the Falkland Islands TV channel published a report on the proposed December 2019 FIG-financed doubling of satellite capacity to 400Mbit/s. Kyle Knappett and Caroline Scott of FITV This is that report by FITV’s reporter, Tom Stockting. Full details of this increase can be found in the Falkland Islands Government Executive Council (EXCO) paper 133/19P: Broadband Provision […] Read More
Back now in what now seems the dim and distant past, during Communications Week in March 2019, Jason Lewis hosted a Let’s Talk interview on Falkland Islands Radio Service (FIRS) with individuals talking about telecommunications on the Falkland Islands. These individuals participating were: Roger Spink, MLA responsible for telecommunications portfolio. And the consultants: Richard Womersley, Director, Spectrum Consulting at LStelcom […] Read More