NewSat pushing its Jabiru satellite for NBN role

Stuart Corner
Wednesday, 03 February 2010 15:29

Business IT - Networking

Australian satellite services provider NewSat (ASX: NWT) is ramping up efforts to secure a role in the provision of NBN services to those Australians beyond the reach of terrestrial networks, with a PR campaign for its planned Jabiru satellite.

The company has issued two statements to the ASX this week. The first was a rather general statement flagging its ongoing interest to participate in the National Broadband Network," stating its track record as a satellite services provider and proposing that its "unique-to-Australia teleports, located in Adelaide and Perth, and the Jabiru Satellite Program, participate in bids to [deliver the NBN] for the 10 percent of remote Australia."

NewSat has now followed this with a much more detail progress report on Jabiru. It has not indicated any confirmed plans to launch the satellite but has promised to "unveil its complete strategy, its partners and its funding plan before June 30th 2010."

The company says that, in January, it met with the presidents and CEOs of a number of the world's leading international space companies and claims that its plans for Jabiru are "well researched and eagerly anticipated," and that this international acceptance and recognition "provides further confidence in NewSat's initiative to launch Jabiru-1 in the final quarter of 2012, in advance of the anticipated National Broadband Network (NBN) satellite initiatives."

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