By Steve Ranger, 14 September 2006 16:35
NEWS
BT has revealed plans to move its satellite communications business away from Goonhilly in Cornwall.
The site is the largest satellite Earth station in the world, with 61 dishes.
But a BT spokesman said it was no longer "commercially viable" for the company to operate two satellite Earth stations, and so all of Goonhilly's satellite communications would be shifted to BT's other satellite station - Madley in Herefordshire - within the next two years.
Around 90 jobs are affected but BT said it will try to redeploy staff.
Goodbye Goonhilly?
silicon.com visited Goonhilly last month. Click here for a photo story featuring its biggest dishes.
The oldest dish on the site - Arthur - is likely to remain in place because it is a grade II listed building. Arthur, which was built to track the Telstar satellite, received the first live transatlantic television broadcasts from the US in 1962.
The site will continue to act as a landing point for undersea cables and the visitors' centre - which attracts around 80,000 tourists each year - is likely to remain.
The site currently handles around 10 million telephone calls per week as well as data, fax, videoconferencing and telex communications from the Atlantic and Indian Ocean areas, as well as some television broadcasts.
Comments
There are 3 comments. Join the discussion
1. Richard
Silicon: The new "Tomorrow's World"?
We used to talk about the "Tomorrow's World Effect":
Several companies folded or their innovative products were cancelled soon after being featured on the BBC's "Tomorrow's World" technology programme.
(Mine was one!)
Could Silicon's photo shoot have been the "last straw" for Goonhilly?
2. anonymous
It seems perverse that in one breath silicon.com reports a £20m scheme to make Cornwall the silicon peninsula to challenge Seattle USA, and in the next reports that BT is to shut Goonhilly, which is a highly visible symbol of hi-tech capability. One might say that "surely they should shut Madley and consolidate on Goonhilly" if there is serious intention of improving business in Cornwall. I detect a lack of joined up thinking.
3. J Arnold
One site = one terrorist target to take big chunks of UK business off the air. Great move BT.