FARM businesses and people living in rural and regional Australia can begin to connect to affordable, high-speed broadband with the start of of services on nbn’s Sky Muster satellite network.
Regional Communications Minister Fiona Nash and Communications Minister Mitch Fifield officially launched nbn’s commercial Sky Muster broadband service at installation provider, Skybridge’s Tullamarine warehouse and training facilities today, in Victoria.
Offering download speeds of up to 25 Megabits per second (Mbps) and upload speeds of up to 5 Mbps, the Sky Muster service aims to deliver faster online experiences for internet users living in regional and remote areas.
Senator Fifield said the Australian government had invested $2 billion in two advanced Ka-band satellites and a network of ground stations that comprise the Sky Muster service.
“The remoteness of our continent and its islands is no longer a barrier to broadband connectivity thanks to nbn’s Sky Muster,” he said.
The first nbn Sky Muster satellite was launch in October 2015, with the second satellite on track for launch later this year.
Eligible customers can now contact their local internet service provider to order a broadband connection over the orbiting satellite, the government said.
Each service requires a professional installation of a new receiver dish and indoor modem.
Minister Nash said, due to living in rural NSW, she understood how fast broadband can help boost jobs and growth in rural Australia.
“These satellites will deliver nbn to parts of Australia which seemed impossible just a few years ago,” she said.
"Affordable satellite broadband creates opportunities to run internet-based businesses from almost anywhere in Australia.
“Building the rural and regional communities our children and grandchildren want to stay in or come back to requires modern technology and I'm so proud the Coalition is delivering it.”
But Shadow Communications Minister Jason Clare said the first of two nbn satellites, were actually commissioned and contracted under the previous Labor government and services on the first satellite were now available.
“Labor understands that broadband is an essential utility, like electricity or water - that is why Labor commissioned these satellites in 2012 to give Australians in the bush access to fast broadband,” he said.
“Fortunately, Labor signed the contracts for delivery of these satellites before the Liberal National Government was sworn in.
“Malcolm Turnbull fought tooth and nail against these satellites when in Opposition – he now calls these satellites a ‘game changer’.
“Labor welcomes the belated support from Malcolm Turnbull and the Liberal Party for the NBN Satellite program - as they say, better late than never.”
GrainGrowers CEO Alicia Garden said farming businesses, like most other businesses, needed fast, reliable internet connectivity, to operate to their potential.
She said grain farmers relied on the internet for banking and other administrative transactions but also increasingly needed connectivity to optimise the actual growing of grain.
“Everyday farmers are collecting large volumes of data in regards to crop conditions, input usage and weather,” she said.
“This data guides their decision making for farm practices and ultimately makes their operation more efficient and more profitable.
“However to get this data from the paddock to the farm office reliable internet connectivity is required.
“Disappointingly up until now this has not been a reality for many farmers.
“The coming online of Sky Muster promises to change all this by providing farm businesses access to connectivity of a standard and price previously only enjoyed by their urban counterparts.”
GrainGrowers has been running regional workshops on the east coast in partnership with nbn to help inform farmers about benefits of the Sky Muster service.
The government said equal priority would be given to new customers and current nbn Interim Satellite Service users migrating to Sky Muster.
Around 5000 users per month will be connected in the early months of the rollout before scaling up to 10,000 installations per month later this year.
An estimated 250,000 homes and businesses across Australia are expected to use the service.
National Farmers Federation President Brent Finlay says improved internet connectivity is “vitally important” to give Australian agriculture one of its biggest opportunities for productivity gains.
But if the digital divide continued to expand in rural Australia, and public and private investment in communications infrastructure failed to grow, it would “hold agriculture back”, he said this month.
Mr Finlay said, currently in regional Australia “we have the haves, and the have nots” in terms of digital access.
“People are trying to run big successful businesses, using the latest technologies, but because they don’t have the basic connectivity, they can’t do it,” he said.
“That’s a major restriction on our capacity to improve productivity and any investment or solutions are critical, to any future government commitments.”
