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Eutelsat discovers that satellites are higher than mountains

In a publicity stunt of some power, Eutelsat has brought the Internet to the cycle race, the Tour de France - and described the feat as "taking broadband to new heights."

The satellite operator installed six PCs have been installed at the Alpe d'Huez Tourist Office, 'le Sporting' restaurant and the ski resort's Internet Cafe, "an altitude of over 1,800 metres" says the release.

The stunt marks the 100th anniversary of the Tour de France as the event arrived in the Alpine resort yesterday. Eutelsat has set up broadband Internet access at three sites in Alpe d'Huez, which are connected to WiFi hot spots for wireless Internet access which have been set up by France Telecom.

The Eutelsat connection uses its D-Star service to provide a two-way satellite broadband connection at 2 Mbps - so there's no need for a modem connection to send data back to the Internet. But the "return" data path is very slow by comparison, restricted to half a megabit per second.

"A similar system was successfully demonstrated during the winter season at 'Les Marmottes' restaurant at 2,400 metres in the French Alps, allowing locals and skiers to surf the web at the highest altitude in France," says the company.

Eutelsat has also installed satellite reception at le Sporting restaurant for live broadcasts of the Tour de France on Eurosport and France Television channels which are delivered in the TPS digital platform that broadcasts through Eutelsat's Hot Bird satellites.

The Internet connection installed at the Tourist Office will remain after the Tour de France moves on to its next stop.