Focussing on telecommunications on the Falkland Islands
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
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
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
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
There was a lot of activity during March 2025, and it’s still taking a high priority in early April. Here is how the local media reported on the public meetings Sure Falkland Islands and Cambridge Management Consulting held in late March 2025 – and my letter to the Penguin News! 28th March 2025: My letter to the Penguin News Credit: Penguin […] Read More
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
Picture source: Mike Kemp I feel I should apologise for the flurry of posts from OpenFalklands in recent days. But can you blame me with everything happening at warp speed in the Falklands? That has to be a good thing? I have been asked to comment on Sure’s surprising proposal to probably offer two new broadband plans with no quotas […] Read More
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
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
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
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
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
Tom Clarke of Sky News in Stanley This is the latest update in the long process of gaining approval for the use of Starlink in the Falkland Islands following the Executive Committee (ExCo) meeting in early March 2025. More on that meeting can be seen in this post – Falkland Islands Government Greenlights Starlink. March 7th 2025: Comment on the […] Read More
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