Satellite internet project wins funding in Devon and Somerset
Broadband provider Satellite Internet has been awarded funding from the Department for Culture, Media & Sport's £10m broadband delivery innovation fund, in partnership with Connecting Devon and Somerset, to develop a satellite broadband solution for remote locations. The scheme will begin with a feasibility study comparing the merits of an individual connection, where a satellite dish is installed directly on the property, with a connection shared through a local network infrastructure such as Wi-Fi. By the end of the project, several new satellite networks will have been installed, providing superfast connections from project partner Astra Connect, the European brand name for SES Broadband Services (SBBS). Connecting Devon and Somerset encompasses six local authority areas: Bath and North East Somerset; Devon; North Somerset; Plymouth; Somerset; and Torbay. The project aims to deliver broadband (greater than 2Mbps) for all homes and businesses in the area and superfast broadband (greater than 24Mbps) to at least 90% of homes and businesses by the end of 2016; with 100% superfast broadband coverage achieved by 2020.
Pictured: Shortly to have broadband access? Hameldown Tor in Dartmoor, Devon, by Fiona Avis/Geograph.org.uk
Satellite Internet: www.satelliteinternet.co.uk
SES Broadband Services: www.ses-broadband.com
BDUK Innovation Fund winning bids: www.gov.uk/government/news/10m-broadfund-fund-winning-bids-announced
ParentMail partners with PayPal for school payments
ParentMail, the UK's leading school-to-home communications and online payments service, has announced a partnership with PayPal, the world's leading online payments service. The news means ParentMail will become the first school online payments system in the UK to integrate PayPal into its platform, opening up this new payment option to its 4.5 million registered parents. It will enable them to pay for school items such as dinner money or trips more quickly and conveniently than using credit or debit cards, the company says. The integration of PayPal as a payments option through ParentMail's +Pay facility simplifies the process and offers increased security by removing the need to provide credit or debit card information, the company says. The flexibility of PayPal offers parents the chance to pay by credit/debit card, direct bank account pull or money held in their PayPal account.
ParentMail: www.parentmail.co.uk
European e-invoicing providers process 800 million payments
Some 840 million electronic invoices were processed and delivered to invoice receivers in 2013 by members of the European E-Invoicing Service Providers Association (EESPA), the association has said. The finding is based on a survey completed in June 2014, and represents a growth of 19 per cent over 2012 volumes of 706 million. The survey was carried out through a third party on the basis of actual transaction volumes. The majority of invoices processed were B2B or B2G (Business-to-Business or Business-to-Government) invoices (603 million invoices in total in 2013), although the EESPA membership also has a significant involvement in the delivery of B2C (Business-to-Consumer) invoices (237 million invoices in total in 2013), the association says. By EESPA's own estimates based on comparing its member's volumes in relation to overall estimates of total electronic invoices processed across Europe, its members are now processing and delivering more than 50 per cent of all truly electronic B2B/B2G invoices to European receivers. EESPA was formed in 2011 as an international not-for-profit association. It acts as a European trade association for e-invoicing service providers, drawn from organisations that provide network, business outsourcing, financial, technology, and EDI (electronic data interchange) services.
EESPA: www.eespa.eu
