Optus Satellite to provide NBN satellite services

Optus satellite, a subsidiary of major Australian operator Optus, has announced its first foray into providing satellite services over the National Broadband Network (NBN), via a partnership with Southern Phone.

The partners are now providing Sky Muster satellite broadband services to customers in regional and rural areas.

NBN plans to use satellite broadband services for the roughly 3% of the of the population – mostly in rural and remote areas – that won’t be covered by fixed line or fixed wireless NBN services.

Southern Phone is a regional telecommunications service provider based in New South Wales. The company’s managing director David Joss noted that only 80,000 of the expected 240,000 Sky Muster satellite broadband services have been connected to date, leaving a significant potential market.

“We see this service as a viable and effective alternative to a traditional NBN connection. For some consumers, this will be the first time they’ve been able to connect to a broadband service,” Optus Satellite VP Paul Sheridan added.

“This new partnership will help us connect with even more regional customers and importantly, make sure that those customers are able to have the same level of support that a customer in a metro area would.”