Last mile broadband for rural UK via Integrated Access Backhaul

宽带是增强民众权能的重要工具，也是21世纪的关键优先事项，因为它具有推动经济和社会增长的变革性力量。它通过远程工作的机会和在线扩展实体企业的能力，增加了收入，减少了失业率。公共账目委员会（PAC）发布的一份报告批评了英国政府的宽带战略及其修订后的目标（2025年），该目标将英国15%的人口排除在外，其中大部分是农村地区的人口。由于用户密度低、部署成本增加、收入潜力降低，网络运营商在农村地区开展业务的积极性较低。因此，宽带技术主要部署在城市地区，随着最近5G的推出，农村社区将被排除在外。Orb Connect （OC）设计了一种最后一英里解决方案，允许移动网络运营商以最小的资本和运营支出将其覆盖范围扩展到农村社区。我们使用3GPP 2011年第10版中引入的“综合接入回程”（IAB）协议克服了这些挑战。IAB允许多跳回传，即专用网络（OC）内的天线可以共享相同的频率，取代传统和成本密集型光纤回传的需要。2020年，电信收入为英国经济贡献了315亿英镑，英国家庭平均每月在电信服务上的支出为79.08英镑，相当于家庭平均月支出的3%。截至2021年第一季度，英国互联网服务提供商（isp）的主要参与者是维珍媒体（24%）、英国电信（23%）和天空（17%）——Statista 2021\。新兴参与者包括提供电视空白（TVWS）服务的Broadway Partners、提供卫星宽带服务的Starlink和Virgin Orbit。与其他isp不同，OC提供了一种可持续的最后一英里解决方案，这种解决方案与回程无关，可以与上述isp合作使用。我们将在2024年第四季度推出，最初的目标是没有互联网连接的本地地区（占我们总可定位市场TAM的13%）。我们预计到2005年将有50万客户，收入为1980万英镑，TAM的销售额同比增长20%。

Broadband is an essential tool for empowering populations and a key priority in the 21st century due to its transformative power as an enabler for economic and social growth. It leads to increased income and reduced unemployment via opportunities for remote work and the ability to expand brick-and-mortar enterprises online.A report published by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has criticised the UK Government's broadband strategy and its revised targets (2025), which excludes 15% of the UK's population, mostly in rural areas.Network operators have fewer incentives to operate in rural areas due to low user densities, increasing deployment costs and resulting in lower revenue potential. As a result, broadband technologies are deployed mainly in urban areas and with the recent 5G rollout, rural communities would be left out.Orb Connect (OC) has designed a last-mile solution that allows mobile network operators to extend their coverage to rural communities with minimal capital and operating expenditure. We overcome these challenges using an 'Integrated Access Backhaul' (IAB) protocol introduced in 3GPP release 10, 2011. IAB allows for multi-hop backhauling, i.e., antennas within a private network (OC) can share the same frequency, replacing the need for traditional and cost-intensive fibre backhaul.In 2020, telecom revenue contributed £31.5bn to the UK economy, and the average UK household spent £79.08/month on telecom services equivalent to 3% of the average monthly household spend. The prominent players in the UK when it comes to Internet Service Providers (ISPs) as of Q1/2021 are Virgin Media (24%), BT (23%) and Sky (17%) - Statista 2021\. Emerging players include Broadway Partners with TV Whitespace (TVWS), Starlink and Virgin Orbit with satellite broadband.Unlike the other ISPs, OC provides a sustainable last-mile solution that is backhaul-agnostic and can be used in collaboration with the above-listed ISPs. We will launch in Q4/2024 and initially target local regions with no internet connection (which accounts for 13% of our Total addressable market TAM). We project ~500,000 customers by Y5 with revenue =£19.8m and a 20% YoY sales growth in our TAM.