The UNIC FP6 project intends to address the digital divide by developing low-cost satellite-based technologies that will support the provision of TV-centric triple play services to rural areas.

The provision of triple play services - TV, broadband internet and telephony - is currently a major growth area with satellite, telecommunications and cable companies competing to become sole providers of these three services to households within Europe. Aside from offering consumers a single bill, triple play provides opportunities for converged information and communication applications. However, while the broadband networks that underpin triple play have extended to most urban centres within Western Europe, many rural populations and some urban centres in Europe still access the internet through slow dial-up lines. Thus, having put up with rudimentary use of internet based services the inhabitants of these areas now face exclusion from newly converged interactive and entertainment services.

The UNIversal home satellite Connection (UNIC) project is attempting to address this existing and potentially growing urban-rural digital divide by developing novel satellite-based technologies that will support the provision of triple play services to rural areas. At the same time, UNIC seeks to bridge the digital divide that arises from the lack of computer ownership and/or computer literacy by providing interactive services such as email and web browsing on standard TV sets.