WA Selected for Three NBN Satellite Ground Stations
1 October 2012
Western Australia has been selected as the location for three new
satellite ground stations to help Australians in isolated areas connect
to high speed broadband.
The facilities in Geraldton, Carnarvon and Kalgoorlie will act as
essential transmission centres to deliver services over the National
Broadband Network to outback communities across the state and across the
nation.
They will also provide a boost to the local economies when construction
begins next year. An estimated 20-30 construction workers will be
required to build each of the facilities, which have received the
support of civic leaders (see below).
The NBN is a vital national infrastructure project that plans to connect
every home and business in Australia to high speed broadband via fibre
optic cable, fixed wireless and satellite within the next decade.
The news was welcomed half a world away by American astronaut Buzz
Aldrin. In a previous incarnation, the Carnarvon site played an
important role in providing reliable and high quality communications for
NASA's manned space flight programme and the Apollo moon landings.
“I was told this was on the cards when I visited Carnarvon in July to
open the town's Space and Technology Museum,” said Dr. Aldrin.
“I think it’s just wonderful that Carnarvon will soon be reviving its
historic links with space with the launch of a National Broadband
Network satellite base station. The revitalisation of a site that played
such a central role in NASA’s Apollo missions will prepare people in the
Australian outback for the next frontier in communications via the
National Broadband Network.”
Dr. Mal Bryce, chairman of the WA scientific and research organisation
iVEC, said:
“High speed, robust and ubiquitous broadband is an absolute prerequisite
for the most isolated parts of WA. The NBN’s satellite service
represents a lifeline for people in regional and remote areas. It will
ensure they have access to economic and social opportunities that the
rest of us take for granted.”
The NBN’s Interim Satellite Service is already delivering reliable,
high-speed broadband to more than 10,000 homes, farms and businesses in
rural and remote parts of Australia, offering wholesale download speeds
of up to 6 Mbps.*
The new satellite ground stations will support the NBN’s Long Term
Satellite Service, which is expected to begin operating in 2015. Two NBN
communications satellites are currently under construction and will
deliver wholesale speeds of up to 12Mbps.*
