Australia spends US$ 672 million on satellite broadband services

The Australian Government will expand the reach of its broadband services under moves to deliver services to outlying communities — using high-bandwidth ka-band satellite communications, and associated tracking, telemetry and control systems.

Australians in rural and remote areas will gain access to fast and affordable broadband services under government plans to design and build two new satellites that deliver high-speed broadband services to communities outside major cities and towns.

These two satellites, being supported by fixed wireless and fibre networks of the National Broadband Network (NBN Co), will deliver universal broadband coverage across the entire Australian continent, and external territories for the first time.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard says this new service, when fully operational, will enable communities to get information, and get it at speeds that are faster now than many other parts of cities in Australia.

“It will give them access to technology in the way that other Australians are getting better access to technology. A different approach but better access to the way that the world will work in the future,” she says.

These future services will help bridge the “digital divide” between urban and regional communities.
Senator Stephen Conroy, Minister for Communications and the Digital Economy, says the two satellites will be built in California and will both be launched about six months apart in 2015.

These satellites feature the most advanced satellite technology available anywhere in the world. “They will provide a dedicated broadband service for the most remote 3 per cent of premises in Australia,” he says.
Future satellite services will provide remote communities with access to the internet at peak speeds of 12 megabits per second per download, comparable to current speed rates across cities.

High-speed broadband will be delivered to Australia’s remotest towns, including Calvert in the Northern Territory and Bandya in Western Australia.
Among its benefits, using satellite services, people in remote communities will be able to consult with medical specialists anywhere in Australia by videolink.

Students in the “bush,” or remote regions , will enhance their educational experience by drawing on content-rich, high bandwidth digital resources from anywhere in the world.

Australia’s “Digital Economy” blueprint sets milestones through to 2020; among these, offering telehealth consultations to remote patients; providing online learning to Australian schools, TAFEs, universities and higher educational institutions, and doubling the level of teleworking so that at least 12 per cent of employees may work away from the traditional workplace.