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Satellite switch-off cuts rural internet connection
Paul Jeeves RURAL communities in Yorkshire have been left without access to the internet after a satellite provider pulled the plug on its services across Europe.
Businesses and homes situated in some of the remotest parts of the county had relied on the Netherlands-based company Aramiska to provide them with access to the internet.
But it has emerged that the business, which offered high-speed internet access and broadband services via two-way satellite technology, shut down its operations throughout Europe last Friday.
Among those who have been affected is Sally Robinson, who runs the thriving online lingerie business Ample Bosom from a farmhouse in North Yorkshire.
Mrs Robinson, who hit on the novel idea for agricultural diversification by setting up the lingerie company in 1999, has relied on the satellite link provided by Aramiska to access her internet site to find out the latest orders placed online.
But since Friday her business, based in Old Byland, near Thirsk, has been left on ice unless customers opt to make a telephone call with their requests or use the mail order service.
Mrs Robinson said the vast majority of business was done over the internet from the www.amplebosom.com site, which has an international reputation and a worldwide customer base.
She said: "It feels like your right arm has been cut off. It is only now that you realise just how much you rely on the internet. It came as a real shock when I tried to log on to the internet site and found that I was unable to.
"We really do not know what we are going to do at this stage. As every day goes by, we don't know how much business we could be missing."
She said internet connections in nearby villages, including Hawnby, Riveaulx and Nunnington, had also been affected.
A company profile on Aramiska's website claimed that the business provides customers with "fast and cost-effective always-on internet connections".
The profile also boasted that "Aramiska has been established to lead the field in delivering broadband reality to businesses, offering a high-quality alternative to current providers".
But when the Yorkshire Post contacted a telephone line for Aramiska yesterday, there was a short recorded message telling customers that the business and its services had shut down on Friday.
A message on the site of the UK-based internet company Ehotspot, which used Aramiska to provide satellite links, announced that the Netherlands-based firm had gone into liquidation.
Ehotspot said that it was attempting to find another provider to get networks operational again as soon as possible.
paul.jeeves@ypn.co.uk
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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