NBN To Launch Satellites in 2015


NBN Co has revealed that it’s selected Space Systems/Loral to build two Ka-band satellites at a cost of approximately $620 million which will be launched in 2015 to provide broadband services to remote rural locations.

The satellites will service “around three percent of premises outside the reach of the NBN’s fibre optic and fixed-wireless services, including outback areas and Australia’s external territories such as Norfolk Island, Christmas Island, Macquarie Island and the Cocos Islands.” according to NBN Co’s release.

If you are an NBN Satellite customer, you won’t get the full speed you might with Fibre; the release quotes NBN Co Chief Executive Officer Mike Quigley as stating that

“NBN Co’s satellites have been designed to deliver initial peak speeds of 12/1 Mbps at the wholesale level for the same wholesale access price as similar fibre services. It will be possible for retail service providers to offer services to homes and businesses in the satellite footprint that are as good or better than the services many city people currently experience.”

Still to come in the satellite tendering process are the satellite’s ground systems and the process for launching the satellite, both of which will be announced at a later date. Until the satellites are launched, NBN Co will offer an interim service with a download speed of up to 6Mbps. [NBN Co]


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