Victorian Farmers Federation (VFF) vice president Brett Hosking said when the NBN was first announced, primary producers thought it was “a great thing”.
“For once we thought were going to get the same level of service as our city counterparts,” Mr Hosking said.
He said Sky Muster provided a slower speed than mobile phone broadband through the telecommunications companies.
“NBN issues has added to the discrimination encountered in country Victoria. If you can get mobile broadband - and speed is important to you - it doesn’t drop out and delivers data at a faster speed.
“That said, Sky Muster is cheaper, although it is definitely an inferior service, to other forms of the NBN.”
Mallee Nationals MP Andrew Broad said he would continue to advocate for a fixed wireless tower, for Kaniva.
“Nbnco have told me it’s on the list, but I too, like the many locals in Kaniva am still waiting. I believe the people of Kaniva, and the surrounding regions, are entitled to the fast and reliable connection that a fixed wireless tower will deliver.”
NBN media advisor Kasey Ellison said the company had to to provide a minimum wholesale download speed of 25 megabits per second, to every premise in Australia as soon as possible, through a “multi-technology model.
“There are several factors that determine which technology is chosen for each area,” Ms Ellison said. These included geographical location, existing infrastructure, cost and time to build. “To serve premises in, and around, Kaniva the Sky Muster satellite had been determined as the best technology.”
She said UK research firm Ovum has named the Sky Muster satellite service “world-leading” because of its data allowance and wholesale download speed and upload speed. “NBN has one of the world’s leading satellite services and we are always looking to utilise and get the maximum results out of all our technologies.”
In October, last year, NBN increased the maximum monthly wholesale data limits and increase the average speed of wholesale download plans by up to 50 per cent on the Sky Muster service.