Centering post

Sorry, if you received a notification of this post as it shouldn’t have gone out! I have a major issue with WordPress that I’m trying to resolve. Sorry again. Chris       jsdahdakjhdjkahjhskjsahdjksahkxxxl k kj l l;k;l k;l k;l k;l k;l ;l k;l k;l k; lk;l  l l lll l kl lk lklk lk ;kl ;lkxjhjhkjs  

Starlink in the Falklands – a concern answered and an update

20th June 2025: Chloe Freeman, Communications Regulator of the Falkland Islands, provides an update on the status of Starlink’s application to provide service in the islands. (Thanks FITV) 13th June 2025: The Starlink Petition Group sent the following letter, raising concerns about the government’s press release regarding the change to VSAT policies announced on June 10 2025, 2025. The letter and the response […] Read More

If Sure Challenges the Falklands Government Over Starlink – What Comes Next?

Perhaps this could be an alternative title for this post? “The People Chose Starlink – Will Sure Try to Overrule Them? As Starlink’s long-awaited arrival in the Falkland Islands draws closer, the region’s digital landscape is poised for a historic transformation. Yet not everyone welcomes the change. The local telecommunications provider, Sure South Atlantic (Sure), has expressed significant concern about […] Read More

Falkland Islands’ Starlink Freedom Day has finally arrived – Yes!

Nearly twelve months after submitting the Starlink Petition Group’s petition to the Falkland Islands Government in the Town Hall, Stanley, the government has formally revised the VSAT policy and fee level. This is a momentous occasion for all businesses and consumers on the island – Starlink (or, more accurately, VSAT) Freedom has finally arrived! This is the Starlink Petition Group’s […] Read More

Connecting Communities: Inside Starlink’s Community Gateway

Starlink’s Community Gateway on the island of Unalaska. Source: Starlink We’re all familiar with Starlink’s direct-to-consumer-focused low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite service, which offers global low-cost, high-speed internet access. It has quickly become one of the most disruptive innovations in the worldwide telecommunications market. Since launching its first batch of satellites in May 2019, Starlink has experienced phenomenal growth. Today, […] Read More

Starlink in the Falklands – April 19th update

A further update on the media discussions in April about Starlink, further to an earlier post dated 8th April 2025. 10th April 2025: “Public frustration”..  Credit: Penguin News: Friday 18th April 2025 April 11th 2025 Credit FITV Chris Gare, OpenFalklands April 2025, copyright OpenFalklands

Comment on TTP/ Sure South Atlantic’s Starlink paper: A Security, Political and Technical Assessment

On March 17th 2025, two presentations were given by Sure Falkland Islands in Stanley. The first was to the islands’ businesses who are members of the islands’ Chamber of Commerce, followed by a public meeting at 17:30. The main speaker at the two presentations was Alistair Beak, Group Chief Executive Officer of Sure International. Sure International provide telecommunications services in the […] Read More

Starlink in the Falklands – Petition Group Press Release

FIG’s Consultation extended 8th April 2025: A press statement from the Falkland Islands Government announcing an extension to the current consultation. “VSAT Public Consultation Period Extended The public consultation period on the proposed changes to the policy that guides the issuing of VSAT licences and the associated fee level has been extended by a month. The proposed changes were considered […] Read More

FIG’s Broadband Speed KPI: Why the Metric Doesn’t Measure Up

This post examines the Falkland Islands Government’s initiative to install network ‘probes’ in the Sure network to measure broadband speed as a Key Performance Indicator (KPI). This initiative was the main driver behind introducing the KPI concept. The post does not cover basic network KPIs such as availability, reachability, or mean time between failures. This is the longest post ever […] Read More

Telecommunications in the Falklands – Future of telecomms presentation by Cambridge Management Consulting

Stanley, Falkland Islands town hall Hot on the heels of the Sure Falkland Islands presentation last week and my critiques of some of the comments made over the weekend – post 1, post 2 and post 3 follows the presentation by Cambridge Management Consultants discussing some aspects of the future of telecommunications on the islands. But first: Thursday 20th March 2025: […] Read More

Starlink Falklands Islands Internet Traffic and Argentina: The Facts

A typical data centre where Points of Presence (PoPs) are hosted (Photo Source: datacenterfrontier.com) This is the final post in a three-part follow-up series covering the presentations delivered by Sure Falkland Islands on March 19th, 2025, in Stanley. You can listen to the public presentation and view the accompanying slides here. In a previous OpenFalklands post, I examined the technical […] Read More

Sure Warns of Profit Loss as Starlink Lands in the Falklands

This post is a follow-up to the presentation delivered by Sure Falkland Islands on March 19th, 2025, in Stanley. You can listen to the presentation and view the accompanying slides here. In my last OpenFalklands post, I focused on the technical aspects discussed during the meeting – specifically, the comparison between Starlink and OneWeb’s technical performance in the Falkland Islands. However, […] Read More

Starlink in the Falklands – March 2025 – Sure’s views on Starlink in high density regions

In yesterday’s post focussing on Sure Falkland Island’s public presentation, I talked about some observations asserted by the presenter about their technical views of Starlink.  Although I am far from being a technical expert in satellite technology. It is a fact that Starlink is the highest capacity system in existence today. Here are my ‘expert’ technical views (with help from […] Read More

Starlink in the Falklands – March 2025 Sure public meeting complete with a recording

March 19th 2025: Two presentations were given by Sure Falkland Islands in Stanley. The first was to the islands’ businesses who are members of the islands’ Chamber of Commerce and a public meeting at 17:30. The main speaker at the two presentations was Alistair Beak, Group Chief Executive Officer of Sure International. Sure International provide telecommunications services in the Isle […] Read More

February 2025 – good news – Thank you Starlink!

This is a very brief OpenFalklands post—probably the shortest I’ve ever published! My last two posts covered the extraordinary week regarding Starlink usage in the Falkland Islands, culminating on Friday with the concerning news that Starlink was discontinuing service to users on the islands. It’s now Monday 10th of February 2025. I highly recommend reading those previous posts to understand […] Read More

February 2025: Starlink in the Falkland Islands – a National Emergency situation?

In yesterday’s (Thursday) OpenFalklands blog, I noted that while a week may seem long in politics, even a single day can feel like an eternity when it comes to Starlink developments in the Falklands. And then, ‘Black Friday’ arrived on Friday, 7th of February! This morning, some Falkland Islands Starlink users began experiencing service terminations as their 60-day roaming period […] Read More

Part 11: Falkland Island’s Starlink adoption progress in November – December 2024

KEMH hospital in Stanley, Falkland Islands This post shows the public updates in November and December 2024 in regards to the adoption of Starlink in the Falkland Islands. For new readers who are unfamiliar with the reasons as to why a £5,400 annual licence fee and an exceedingly complex licence process were implemented to prevent VSAT usage on the Falkland […] Read More

Friday deadline!! Essential Telecommunications Survey

These are the last few days until the end of this most essential telecommunications survey. Think of all those times when you wished the islands had a more reliable telecommunications service. Last Sunday’s most recent outage had a big impact on all islanders, so please, please, if you haven’t already done so, take a few minutes to provide the information required […] Read More

Falkland Islands Future Telecommunications Strategy: Part 2

Part 2: Updated 10th November 2024 The following item is courtesy of 31st November 2024 Penguin News. An update on several issues concerning Starlink and an interview with Tim Passingham, Chairman of Cambridge Management Consultants. (Source Falkland Islands TV). Thanks FITV! Legislative Assembly meeting formally approving the Starlink Petition Select Committee recommendations. (Source Falkland Islands TV). The drive the Cambridge […] Read More

Falkland Islands Future Telecommunications Strategy: Part 1

Updated 25th October 2024 Sure Falkland Islands’ Intelsat satellite dishes in Stanley With the Sure Falkland Islands Exclusive Telecommunications Agreement ending on December 29th 2027, the Falkland Islands Government (FIG) has issued an Invitation to Tender  (ITT) document in June 2024 entitled: “Invitation to Tender for the Provision of Telecommunications Consultancy Services”. The closing date was the 30th of July […] Read More

Part 11: Starlink in the Falklands: 3rd October final Select Committee meeting

 The petition objectives were supported by all eight MLA Select Committee members. The final public Starlink Select Committee will be held at 09:00 Falkland Islands time on Thursday 3rd October 2024 held at the Chamber of Commerce. October 2nd 2024: Draft Recommendations of Select Committee of the Legislative Assembly into the Petition: Download PDF: MLA Gavin Short’s statement at the […] Read More

Part 10: Starlink in the Falklands: 20th Sep Select Committee

This is the official website for the Starlink Select Committee. The agenda of the 20th September 2024 Starlink Select Committee. Listen to an interview by Kris Ball with Roma Stewart, CEO of Sure Falkland Islands, broadcast on the 18th of September on Falkland Islands Radio service. On September 16th, Sure Falkland Islands updated their new ‘unlimited’ service by an additional a […] Read More

A Stanley visit and dragster thrill

This is the first for OpenFalklands, as all previous posts have focused on topics related to telecommunications on the Falkland Islands. However, exciting times call for something different, so I thought I would like to lighten things up. Trip to Stanley But first, I’d like to let you know that I will visit the Falkland Islands later this month. I […] Read More

Part 9: Starlink in the Falklands: 5th September 2024 Select Committee meeting

The previous OpenFalklands post discussed the first Falkland Islands Government Select Committee concerning the Starlink Petition. It can be found here: Starlink in the Falklands Part 8: First meeting of the Starlink Select Committee. On August 28th, 2024, just a few days before the second Select Committee meeting on the 5th of September 2024, Sure announced several revised Internet access […] Read More

Starlink in the Falklands Part 8: First meeting of the Starlink Select Committee.

The first meeting of the Starlink Select Committee can be found at the end of this post. 15th July: Peter Biggs interview on Falkland Islands Radio Service. 18th July 2024: 25th July Order paper has been published: July 19th 2024 Credit: (Penguin News) 25th July 2024: MLA Roger Spink presenting the Starlink Petition to the Legislative Assembly (Credit Falkland Islands Radio) […] Read More

Major Global Market Shift Reflected in Falklands Starlink Battle

Even allowing the affordable use of Starlink in the Falkland Islands represents a significant transformation opportunity, Starlink’s current status in the Falkland Islands is just one small battle in the global war between Geostationary High-Throughput Satellites (GEO-HTS) and Low-Earth-Orbit High-Throughput Satellites (LEO-HTS). Many systems, applications, and services depend on cloud-based infrastructures in today’s interconnected world. The Falkland Islands are no […] Read More

Petition to Policy: Legislative Steps to Bring Starlink to the Falkland Islands

 A UK government Select Committee The public meeting organised by the Starlink Petition Group (live-streamed over Starlink) in Stanley Town Hall was considered a great success by those attending. The Petition was handed over to MLA Roger Spink and is ready to be presented to the Legislative Assembly on July 25th, 2024. With its first meeting on August 1st, 2024, […] Read More

The Falkland Islands Starlink Petition Group Town Hall presentation.

On July 11th, 2024, the team’s hard work in the Falkland Islands culminated in a public meeting in Stanley Falkland Islands’ Town Hall. The meeting presented the results of a Petition demanding changes in the law to allow the use of Starlink on the islands and significantly reduce the cost of the £5,400 VSAT licence. This was intended to disincentivise […] Read More

Starlink in the Falkland Islands: Part 7

These are all the final media publications relating to the use of Starlink in the Falkland Islands before the public meeting on July  11th 2024. 5th July 2024: Gavin Short’s interview with Penguin News: 6th July 2024: Andrea Clausen interview on FITV. Hannah Newton reading the news. 6th July 2024: Falkland Islands Public Accounts Committee investigation into the Falkland Islands […] Read More

Falkland Islands Starlink Petition public meeting live-streamed presentation tonight

Please remember the Starlink Petition Group’s public meeting tonight in the Town Hall in Stanley, Falkland Islands. It is also being live-streamed on YouTube. Doors open at 18:00 Falklands time (22:00 UK time), and the presentation starts at 18:30 (22:30 UK time). I would like to thank the team and all the others in the background who helped. In recent […] Read More

Starlink in the Falkland Islands: Part 6

A short post for a change, about the status of Starlink in the Falkland Islands -18th June to 1st July 2024. 18th June 2024: MLA Leona Roberts interview with Kris Ball.  Courtesy of  Falkland Islands Radio, 27th June 2024: Someone’s been busy being artistic. Let’s hope they are right! 29th June 2024: IT department Starlink trial. Courtesy of FITV 1st […] Read More

The Impact of Intelsat’s Multi-Orbit Service on OneWeb’s Low-Latency Offering in the Falklands.

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

Continuing update to the use of Starlink in the Falkland Islands: Part 5

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

AN UPDATE TO THE USE OF STARLINK IN THE FALKLAND ISLANDS. PART 4, CONSUMERS SPEAK, THE PETITION

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

Part 3. A win-win digital services strategy for the Falkland Islands

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

An update to the use of Starlink in the Falkland Islands. Part 2, The Falkland Islands enigma

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

An update to the use of Starlink in the Falkland Islands; Part One, the Ascension Island story.

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

St Helena: Plans for an Island-Wide Fibre-Optic Cable Network Being Developed

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

A Formal Complaint to the FI Communications Regulator regarding VP8/SQ1SGB’s amateur radio operation in Antarctica

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 #3: Amateur Radio Call Sign Allocation for British Antarctic Territory, South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands

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 Regulator about South Georgia and Antarctic VP8 Amateur Radio Licensing

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: Formal Complaint regarding the actions of the Falkland Islands Communications Regulator

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

Updates on VP8 amateur radio licences in British Antarctic Territory, South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands

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

A possible solution for “Problems Receiving Some UK Texts”?

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

SpaceX’s Starlink in touching distance of the Falklands!

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

An email update from Sure on local Internet services. Get set go!

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

Non-resident lifetime Falkland Islands VP8 licences – common sense prevails (Update #4)

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

Communications Regulator appeal delayed by poor communications

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

Notice of Appeal started in relation to VP8 amateur radio licences

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

A proposed Falkland Islands Amateur Radio Society (FIARS)

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

Update #9: OTT Service Provider oriented Internet Access product

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

July 4th 2020 Update: The curious case of 4G TV interference

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

Obtaining an amateur radio licence on the Falkland islands.

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

An open email to MLAs about the impact of VSAT legislation on businesses

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: National Broadband Strategy – what is it, indeed, where is it heading?

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

Business continuity, VSATs and the law of unintended consequences

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

National Broadband Strategy: Subsea cable study

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

Falkland Islands Internet presentation in Penguin News

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

Falkland Islands Internet presentation on FITV

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

Falkland Islands Internet – some thoughts presentation – 28th November 2019

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

Falkland Islands November / December 2019 Internet ‘planned’ outage.

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

October and November 2019 Falkland Islands broadband service performance issues, Update #8.

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

FITV report about Falkland Islands satellite capacity doubling in December 2019

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

Let’s talk on Falkland Islands Radio during Communications Week in March 2019

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

Falkland Islands’ Regulator’s QoS Direction: Part 2 – Discussion

On July 1st 2019, the Falkland Islands’ Communications Regulator issued a “Direction to Sure Falkland Islands, No 2019/01a Quality of Service” which requires Sure Falkland Islands to provide data on broadband Quality of Service (QoS), i.e. the performance of the island’s broadband services. All points discussed apply to both fixed and mobile data network performance Quality of Service (QoS) testing. […] Read More

Falkland Islands’ Regulator’s QoS Direction, Part 1 – what is it?

On July 1st 2019, the Falkland Islands’ Communications Regulator issued a “Direction to Sure Falkland Islands, No 2019/01a Quality of Service” which requires Sure Falkland Islands to provide data on broadband Quality of Service (QoS) in the form of download speeds of the island’s broadband services using ETSI specifications. To do justice to this important subject, I have split the […] Read More

Roaming with your phone – in the dark?

Update: 12th June 2019 In regard to the footnote, the old Roaming Partner list has now been deleted from the Sure Falkland Island’s web server. I have written about Falkland Islands’ mobile services in my posts about the issues concerning overseas’ SMS texts, Two-Factor Authentication and the background to the new 4G service. In this post, I’d like to focus […] Read More

The carry-on about data carry-over

I’ve seen many Facebook posts and heard many comments made over the years expressing the desire for Sure Falkland Islands to offer data ‘Carry-Over’ or ‘Roll-Over’ of unused monthly broadband usage quotas rather than expiring. Nobody likes losing something they’ve paid for. With the high cost of broadband services, this could be an appropriate option to implement on the Falkland […] Read More

A peek under the bonnet of the Falkland Islands’ 4G service: Part 2, Falkland Islands 4G

Update: 30th May 2019 Batelco signed the original Agreement with Star Solutions to install 4G LTE in the South Atlantic islands in March 2015. I wrote about the history of 4G LTE in Part 1 of this post – A peek under the bonnet of the Falkland Islands’ 4G service: Part 1, 4G history. and I would advise looking at […] Read More

A peek under the bonnet of the Falkland Islands’ 4G service: Part 1, 4G history.

Although consumers generally only care about whether their mobile phones work and that they get a ‘signal’ when they want to make a call, I thought it might be interesting to take a small look under the bonnet of the Falkland Islands’ new 4G service. It’s a little bit of an acronym hell in there but there are only a […] Read More

Is the reported Sure complaints data adequate for a monopoly environment?

Synopsis The Falkland Islands Communications Regulator has just issued a report in May 2019 entitled “A Report on Complaints to Sure Falkland Islands”. This report is a step in the right direction but is the data provided appropriate for a monopoly telecommunications environment as experienced in the Falkland Islands and is it what islanders actually want to see? Background Let’s […] Read More

“We have just sent a code to your mobile phone” Oh damn!

Synopsis It’s critical for Falkland Islanders to be able to fully participate in the world of on-line services which are now driven by concerns of security as never before. None of us can avoid this. Two-Step Authentication based on SMS texts lies at its heart. This maybe one of my shorter posts but it is right up there in importance. […] Read More

Do you have difficulty receiving or sending overseas SMS texts?

Updates are located at the end of the post. Background Back in mid-April 2019, a Falkland Island Internet user posted the following message on Facebook: “For any HSBC customers who hold a UK account: HSBC have now moved to text messaging for authorising any new online transactions on HSBC Visa cards, and it doesn’t currently work with the mobile network […] Read More

Is your organisation hosting a website outside of the Falkland Islands that uses a .fk based URL? If so you had better read this!

Synopsis. This is a very technical post so it will only be of interest if you are involved in managing a website hosted OUTSIDE of the Falkland Islands that uses a .fk based domain. This includes www.falklands.gov.fk. If that is the case, when the Falkland Islands’ Internet is down (as it was on the 30th April 2019) then that site […] Read More

Falkland Islands’ Internet usage: Part 3, Forecasting future satellite capacity

I was pleased to see Household [Internet] User Habits survey on the Falkland Islands as an element of Communications Week in March 2019. However, the stated objective of the survey made me stop and think. “The results of this survey will contribute to calculating the international connectivity demands of the Falkland Islands providing a clearer picture of what a ‘typical […] Read More

Wow! What an island! What a telecoms company!

I have been talking about the Falkland Islands taking an Exponential Approach rather than taking an Incremental Approach to improving Internet services in posts such as The Enigma of the Falkland Islands National Broadband Strategy or as I would like to call it, National Internet Strategy. Is this such an outrageous approach to adopt? I think not,  I’d like to […] Read More

Falkland Islands’ Internet usage: Part 1, the importance of objective data.

One of the activities of the Falkland Islands Communications Week was to inform the National Broadband Strategy (which I would like renamed the National Internet Strategy) using the Household User Habits Survey. According to the Falkland Islands Regulator’s web site: “This survey is gathering information on how consumers use the internet now, and aspirations for the future. The results of […] Read More

Ping testing a Falkland Islands Internet server (Updated 14th April 2019)

May 14th update Saint Helena and the Falkland Islands Face Simultaneous Outages. (14-05-19)”] On 30 April 2019, internet service in the Falkland Islands and Saint Helena suffered simultaneous outages. We often see large outages in islands or remote areas due to limited sources for internet connectivity and/or extreme weather events. In this case, Sure South Atlantic Ltd is only source […] Read More

The enigma of Falkland Islands’ broadband Contention Ratios

During the Falkland Islands Communications Week, it was mentioned that Sure needed to “look at broadband contention going forward” [or something close to that]. So what? you may say. The reason it’s important is that contention has a major impact on the Quality of Experience of using the Internet. It’s certainly nearly equal to the issue of increasing Satellite Capacity. […] Read More

Falkland Islands’ 2nd Annual Communications Meeting: Monday, 18th March 2019

I was pleased to see that FIG, Sure and the regulator have been holding public meetings to talk about and involve islanders in matters of Falkland Islands telecommunications. On Monday, 18th March 2019 in the Chamber of Commerce in Stanley, the session had three presenters from Sure South Atlantic, Falkland Islands Government (FIG) and the Communications Regulator. Here is an […] Read More

Falkland Islands’ satellite – spoilt for choice! Part 1, Intelsat EPIC.

There couldn’t be a better time to look at the up and coming possibilities of increasing satellite capacity (not to forget reducing latency) in the Falkland Islands. The satellite `industry is going through a mega-innovation period with the two big satellite companies developing and launching new satellite constellations. Indded, the industry structure going through major disruptive changes brought about by […] Read More