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

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

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