This post follows up on the two major service announcements made by Sure Falkland Islands (Sure) on 19th March 2025: the introduction of “cheaper and unlimited broadband packages for all“ and a “low-latency” broadband service based on their OneWeb LEO satellite platform. Not unexpectedly, these announcements were met with significant interest and high expectations from residents and businesses.
This is not the first time I’ve covered these developments. In March 2025, I published Sure Falklands’ Proposed Unlimited Broadband Plans, providing a technical and strategic perspective on the proposed unlimited packages. Earlier, in June 2024, I explored the broader implications of the Sure low-latency satellite service in The Impact of Intelsat’s Multi-Orbit Service on OneWeb’s Low-Latency Offering in the Falklands. If you’re not familiar with the background, I recommend reading those posts first to get up to speed.
Now, 112 days after Sure’s bullish presentations in Stanley, neither service has been formally launched, and no public explanation has been given. This post examines what was proposed, what has (or hasn’t) happened since, and considers possible reasons for the continued delay, including the concerning possibility that strategic business motives may be holding back vital broadband improvements in the Falkland Islands.
No launch dates were offered at the time, but let’s review what was said about these two proposed new services in the March 2025 presentations.
Two “unlimited” broadband services for all
These are some of the comments made about the two proposed “unlimited broadband services for all” made in the 19th March 2025 presentations by Sure in Stanley.
“There’re two plans that we plan to launch and these would replace all of the existing broadband plans that we have in place today. So there’s two plans. And they’re both unlimited. The first plan is for £50 a month for unlimited data. And that goes up to a speed of 5 megabits per second. The second plan is for £115 a month. It’s also for unlimited data and it would be up to speeds of up to 15 megabits per second.”
“We have a really strong plan to bring faster, lower-cost broadband for all.
“A massive change from where we are today. A big improvement in terms of faster speeds.”
“We’ve been working extremely hard to find the solution that can bring this about in terms of enabling and ensuring there’s enough capacity to be able to deliver this new service. So it’s faster. It’s lower cost and it’s unlimited.”
“We sense that the you will want to see improvements very quickly and we are working flat out as I said – there’s a team… of 30 people here in the Falkland Islands as well as the team in Guernsey of experts of engineers who are looking to bring the best technology here.”
The presentation concluded with:
“I said you really do have our attention. We are working flat out and we’re determined to find a solution that addresses your concerns and brings faster broadband more reliable broadband at a lower cost as well”.
At the time, my conclusions as expressed in the post Sure Falklands’ Proposed Unlimited Broadband Plans about the unlimited packages were cautiously optimistic.
“My primary concern was whether Sure could effectively balance offering an unlimited, quota-free service to all customers while supporting many concurrent users with diverse application needs with a good QoE.
Encouragingly, my rough calculations suggest the system could function as needed. However, peak evening streaming times, like when most users watch Netflix, could still cause congestion and service degradation. However, these theoretical estimates remain speculative, and any significant changes in key parameters could still lead to network congestion.”
Sure did announce two new unlimited broadband services offered without withdrawing all the other seven standard broadband packages: a ‘10 Mbps Unlimited standard @ £229/mth‘ and ‘15 Mbps Unlimited Pro @ £320/mth. These fall short of the “for all” ambition for the removal of quotas for all packages, as proposed in March.
However, Sure’s broadband web page still confuses, as there are now two competing high-end options:
Why would a customer choose the Pro XL package over the Unlimited Pro package, which has a lower maximum download speed, a 5 GB quota, and is far more expensive? The only difference that I can ascertain is that broadband users can use the PRO XL at a Sure hotspot or a second location.
Unlimited, non-quota service for all users remains absent as of July 2025.
Sure’s ‘Low-latency’ service.
My first post regarding Sure’s proposed OneWeb-based LEO “low latency” service was titled “The Impact of Intelsat’s Multi-Orbit Service on OneWeb’s Low-Latency Offering in the Falklands” and was posted on June 21st 2025.
Low-latency LEO services were first mentioned in a joint press release from the Falkland Islands Government (FIG) and Sure on November 17th, 2022. However, as of the OpenFalklands’ post publication date, the service had still not been launched.
These are some of the comments made about the proposed low-latency service made in the 19th March 2025 Sure presentations:
“The second aspect of the proposal is that we have a LEO service. So a low earth orbit service, which is direct to you, the customer. Now, this isn’t for everyone. The idea is that this would be prioritised to Camp customers, to business customers, and to those customers who are at the remote end of their [ADSL local connection].”
“So it’s perfect for a Camp situation. Again, it’s direct to the customer. So what we envisage is that the houses and the businesses that have this solution, it would be one for each household or one for each business.”
“So my key message is that it can be better, it should be better, and it will be better. We have a really strong plan to bring faster, lower-cost broadband for all… and then a direct-to-customer LEO solution. And it’s fully supported by a local team who are committed for the long-term to the Falkland Islands and supporting you as a community.”
“So we believe that with the network that’s being put in place by OneWeb, it doesn’t have a good reputation here because of the time it’s been taking us to get it ready to be launched. But now we believe all the hard work that we’ve put in with our partners, with OneWeb, that it is ready to roll out.”
As would be expected with this proposal, the audiences expressed high expectations following the positive and confident announcements by Sure.
112 Days and Counting: No Formal Launch Yet
All the above confident comments about the proposed services were made on the 19th March 2025 to consumers and businesses in two separate meetings. The main speaker at the two presentations was Alistair Beak, Group Chief Executive Officer of Sure South Atlantic.
Despite this positivity, as of July 9th, 2025 the date of this post – 112 days after the proposed services were announced – neither the “unlimited broadband service for all” nor the OneWeb-based “low-latency LEO service” has been formally, or even informally, announced as available services that can be purchased. In the case of the “low-latency LEO service”, it has been 2 years and 8 months since it was initially proposed.
The only news that has come to my attention since the presentations in March 2025 has been a trial (?) deployment of the OneWeb LEO service at the Malvina Hotel in Stanley, as well as a trial with a resident of Camp. Have there been any others?
Why have these two services not been formally launched?
Surprisingly, there has not even been any island gossip about why the services have not been launched – this must be a first!
I do not know the reasons behind the delay in launching the two services. Therefore, what follows is purely speculative, based on the limited public information and my speculative interpretation of the events.
Could the delay be due to unforeseen technical issues? That seems unlikely, as in the March presentation, firm assurances were given that both services were ready to launch despite some acknowledged historical issues as stated explicitly about the OneWeb-based LEO services. Yet, 112 days later, we’ve heard nothing. No updates. No announcements. Complete silence.
Once again, Occam’s razor appears apt: the simplest explanation is often the correct one. In Holding Islands Hostage: The Price of Monopolised Broadband,, I suggested that Sure may have been using its ability to upgrade Stanley’s outdated broadband infrastructure as leverage – an investment it could easily afford to make if granted an extension of its exclusive licence.
Could the same tactic be at play again? Is Sure withholding the launch of these two services, particularly the unlimited option for all broadband packages, to strengthen its negotiating position with the government regarding Starlink approval? From their perspective, this would be a logical, if deeply concerning, strategy for all their broadband customers.
Conclusion
The absence of any official launch or meaningful update 112 days after Sure’s confident public announcements in March is both troubling and telling. Despite bold promises of transformation – “unlimited broadband for all” and a “direct-to-customer low-latency LEO service” – residents and businesses in the Falklands are still waiting, without clarity, timelines, or accountability.
If technical hurdles were truly the cause, one might expect some communication to that effect. But the prolonged total silence, especially after assurances that these services were ready to go, raises legitimate questions about intent. The suggestion that these much-needed upgrades are being used as bargaining chips in licensing negotiations is, at this stage, more than idle speculation – it is a plausible explanation supported by both timing and pattern.
The people of the Falklands deserve more than hopeful soundbites and ambiguous timelines. They deserve transparency, follow-through, and broadband services that reflect the modern digital world. Until that happens, scepticism will remain justified, and the responsibility to explain these delays lies squarely with Sure.
Chris Gare, OpenFalklands, July 2025, copyright OpenFalklands
