NBN Long Term Satellite Service set to deliver faster, higher capacity broadband to rural and remote Australians.

Rural and remote communities are a step closer to receiving fast and affordable broadband with the announcement today of an initial $280 million investment to provide ground equipment for the National Broadband Network’s Long Term Satellite Service.

NBN Co has signed a contract with ViaSat Inc for the manufacture and supply of communications equipment that will be designed to enable delivery of fast broadband internet to families and businesses over the NBN in the most isolated parts of the continent.

The equipment includes the large satellite dishes that will be located at NBN Co’s 10 ground stations to send broadband signals to NBN Co’s two new satellites for distribution to homes, farms and businesses; household satellite dishes and other receiving and transmitting equipment; and technology to be installed in NBN Co’s data centres to manage the integration of the satellite service with the rest of the NBN network.

The contract was subject to a comprehensive, two-year procurement process undertaken by NBN Co and is part of a total investment of around $2 billion in the Long Term Satellite Service. When NBN Co’s two satellites are launched (scheduled for 2015), it is expected that up to 200,000 homes and businesses in the remotest regions will have access to around double the broadband speeds they can generally access today.

The contract with ViaSat is expected to lead to the creation of more than 300 Australian jobs including a workforce to install small satellite transmission equipment at homes and businesses, as well as IT workers to manage the project.

NBN Co’s chief executive officer Mike Quigley says, “The NBN will ensure everyone in Australia can have access to fast and affordable broadband. ViaSat’s role in providing ground equipment to support the Long Term Satellite Service will help bridge the digital divide between urban and regional communities. It will be designed to ensure those who live in the most geographically isolated parts of the country are able to take advantage of the opportunities that the digital economy enables.”

ViaSat chairman and chief executive officer Mark Dankberg says, “Satellite broadband is essential to completing the NBN and bringing this important infrastructure to all Australians – no matter where they live. We’re very proud to play a part in this important nation-building project and to be part of helping to deliver the Long Term Satellite Service to areas that are out of the reach of the fibre and fixed wireless networks.”

The contract announced today is the second of three major tenders to be awarded as part of the Long Term Satellite Service. In February, NBN Co awarded a $620m contract to Space Systems/Loral to build two leading edge Ka-band broadband satellites plus associated telemetry, tracking and command systems. A contract for the launch of the satellites into space will be awarded at a later date.

The Long Term Satellite Service is being designed to deliver double the wholesale speed and up to 10 times the capacity per end user of the Interim Satellite Service. When launched in 2015, the Long Term Satellite Service is expected to provide retail service providers with initial peak speeds of 12 megabits per second download and 1 megabits per second upload* at the wholesale level for the same wholesale access price as similar fibre services. Until then, NBN Co will continue to operate its Interim Satellite Service which provides wholesale download speeds of up to 6Mbps* to retail service providers. There are already around 10,000 homes and businesses connected to the Interim Satellite Service.