Will Scotland’s broadband future be a blimp?

We reported earlier about Malaysia’s ambitious plans to use an aircraft based platform to provide broadband service to its far flung masses. Now it seems that BT is also considering an airborne broadband platform, only in their case the platform is a blimp.

Ian Rose, head of BT’s satellite systems team, said so-called high altitude platforms (HAPs) had a number of advantages over satellites in space.

He said: “One of the advantages is that you could lay down fairly high-capacity networks fairly quickly. And because they can be brought back down easily, you can alter the payload to deal with new technology.”

Satellites tend to stay up for 10 to 15 years, by which time their equipment may be out of date. But blimps could be altered to handle advances such as fourth generation phone networks.

Rose said: “Because satellites give broad area coverage, they are likely to continue being used for continents. But HAPs could be used at a regional level. It’s a trade-off between the two different technologies.”

The cost of launching an airship could be a fraction of that of launching a satellite system into space, communications experts believe. (from Scotland on Sunday)

It will be interesting to see if this plan materializes. It could be the answer many backwater broadband wannabees are looking for, including a big chunk of the Rural US. Imagine no tower license and no fixed line right of ways. You’ll only have to fight with the FAA and the FCC.