The Morrison McCormack Government welcomes the latest National Broadband Network (NBN) milestone with more than 100,000 Australian homes and businesses now receiving fast broadband over the Sky Muster satellite service.
Minister for Communications, Cyber Safety and the Arts, the Hon Paul Fletcher MP, said demand for NBN Sky Muster services has been increasing in recent months with a new customer in Exmouth, Western Australia taking the number of Sky Muster customers above 100,000.
“The NBN Sky Muster satellites are a critical component of the NBN providing fast broadband to people living across Australia’s sparsely populated 7.7 million square kilometre landmass. They deliver connectivity to the most difficult to reach locations where other broadband offerings are often limited,” Minister Fletcher said.
“Australia’s NBN Co has maintained a strong focus on delivering for regional and remote Australians, including during COVID-19. In March, NBN Co announced a data boost for standard Sky Muster plans and expanded unmetered data offerings for Sky Muster Plus plans. This has supported productivity, social cohesion and connectivity in the regions.”
Minister for Regional Health, Regional Communications and Local Government, the Hon Mark Coulton MP, said that since it was launched four years ago, NBN Co has continued to develop the Sky Muster service to better meet the needs of consumers and businesses, including through the launch of Sky Muster Plus and the Business Satellite Service.
“Regional connectivity is a priority for the Federal Government,” Minister Coulton said.
“Thanks to the Sky Muster network, Australians in regional areas are now in a much better position to access telehealth services, undertake distance education for themselves and their children, and connect their businesses to global markets.
“As a regular user myself, I encourage Australians to give Sky Muster a go if they are in the Sky Muster footprint and have not yet tried it.”
Minister Fletcher and Minister Coulton commend NBN Co on its responsiveness to the needs of regional communities during the COVID-19 pandemic. NBN Co is providing satellite broadband retailers with an additional 45 gigabytes of download data for each standard Sky Muster plan until July 2020.
It is also providing a $150 million financial relief and assistance fund to help retail service providers assist vulnerable customers affected by COVID-19, and has suspended the managed disconnection of legacy copper services to the 70 per cent of regional premises that can access the NBN via fixed line services and all non-essential work on its fixed wireless network to minimise disruptions to services and keep regional Australians connected.
To learn more about NBN services in regional and remote Australia visit www.nbnco.com.au.
