Focussing on telecommunications on the Falkland Islands
The wait is over – the light at the end of the tunnel is here! The Executive Committee (ExCo) of the Falkland Islands Government has officially approved a considerable reduction in the VSAT licence fee – it is “minded” to slash it from £5,400 to just £180 but it will stay at £5,400 until final agreement in ExCo in early […] Read More
(and a bit about the possible OneWeb LEO service in St Helena) I’ve discussed the arrival of the Equiano cable in St Helena several times on OpenFalklands with optimism for improved broadband services for islanders. It goes without saying that this was the whole point of the years-long campaign to bring the undersea cable to the island. The focus then […] Read More
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
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
“Thursday, February 7th 2025: These past few days have been the most contentious since the Starlink Petition Group began its activities in May 2024 to legalise Starlink usage in the Falkland Islands. Boy, what a week so far it has been! They say a week is a long time in politics, but even a day feels like an eternity when […] Read More
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
Goose Green School By guest author, Andy Trish An Introduction My first visit to the Falkland Islands was in 1982 aboard HMS Hermes. Although I couldn’t come ashore due to my workload, I returned in 1986 and developed a deep love for the islands and their people. Over the years, I have made several visits, each time striving to positively […] Read More
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
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