George welcomes jobs and £multi-million investment in Goonhilly satellite business

West Cornwall MP, Andrew George, will meet Avanti Communications Chief Executive, David Williams, at Goonhilly tomorrow, Tuesday 5th November at 11 am, to formally open the new satellite communications building and growing enterprise which is providing 24 well paid satellite broadband operator jobs and many other indirect jobs as part of a £8.2 million investment which includes £1.5 million from the Government’s Regional Growth Fund.

Mr George has been asked to officially open the new building which has allowed staff to move out of portacabins which were originally placed on site.

Whilst a lot of attention has been given to the work of British Telecomm and Act Now for the roll out of fibre optic superfast broadband to accessible towns and villages around Cornwall and on the Isles of Scilly, Avanti provides a satellite broadband service to the many thousands of homes both in Cornwall and elsewhere that are out of reach of the terrestrial fibre optic service. Mr George is pressing those officials responsible for the roll-out of superfast broadband to ensure that residents and businesses in more remote and inaccessible locations have an equal opportunity to access superfast broadband.

Mr George said: “It is great that Avanti has invested and created jobs in this area. The whole Goonhilly site has tremendous potential and I really hope that this is but the first stage in a development which will see the old Goonhilly Telstar station become a very significant driver in the local economy, creating jobs and commercial spin-off in the local community, as well as generating high paid jobs for young people with a career interest in science and technology.”

In recent years Avanti has invested in a fleet of three spacecrafts, five gateway earth stations, offices on four continents and 186 employees.

Mr George is also strongly supporting the efforts of Goonhilly Earth Station Limited which, next door to Avanti, is developing deep space research and commercial satellite services with major UK based aerospace companies.

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