Avanti to provide satellite broadband to remote areas of Britain

(Adds background, Avanti shares)

LONDON, Dec (Shanghai: 600875.SS - news) 7 (Reuters) - Satellite group Avanti Communications won a contract with BT to help supply broadband services to British homes that have slow connections on terrestrial networks.

The company said on Monday that up to 300,000 homes that could not access speeds greater than 2Mbps would be eligible to receive a contribution from the government to fund the installation of satellite broadband, with the consumer then paying monthly service charges.

Shares (Berlin: DI6.BE - news) in Avanti were up 4 percent at 1044 GMT.

Analysts at Cenkos said the deal could generate about 10 million pounds ($15 mln) in recurring revenue annually for the company, based on estimates that a third of eligible homes and businesses will take up the offer. The scheme is expected to start later this month, Avanti said.

"This scheme offers immediate assistance to those homes and businesses in the most remote areas with the slowest speeds," said Digital Economy Minister Ed Vaizey.

Britain is spending 1 billion pounds on its communications infrastructure, both broadband and mobile coverage, and it wants superfast broadband to be available to 95 percent of the country by 2017, up from 78 percent at the end of 2014.

BT has pledged to exceed that target, and in September it said it would work with the government to deploy broadband to remote parts of the country, including using a satellite service. ($1 = 0.6630 pounds) (Reporting by Paul Sandle; editing by Kate Holton and Susan Fenton)