The Australian Government has announced the first National Broadband Network satellite will be launched into space on October 1 from French Guiana.
The ka-band satellite will be capable of data speeds of up to 25 megabits per second and will be used primarily to improve connectivity for more than 200,000 homes and business in remote Australia as well as external territories in Norfolk Island, Christmas Island, Macquarie island and the Cocos Islands.
The first satellite will be known as ‘Sky Muster’ and was named by students from the School of the Air in Alice Springs. No date has been set yet for the launch of the second satellite but it will probably be next year.
Communications minister Malcolm Turnbull said the NBN was the largest infrastructure project in the country’s history but, unlike a giant dam or tunnel or bridge it was, many respects, over ten million small projects each with their own individual characteristics
“If there is an argument for government intervention in broadband, it is in rural and remote areas which are not otherwise economic for the private sector to service,” he said.
“It is pretty obvious that the NBN has its biggest impact with customers whose broadband was previously either non-existent or very inadequate and that includes most people covered by the fixed wireless footprint.”