NBN Co wants to take over Australian Broadband Guarantee

Stuart Corner
Thursday, 25 February 2010 10:07

IT Policy - Government Tech Policy

NBN Co is proposing that, as an interim measure to improve broadband for very remote areas of Australia, it would become the sole provider of wholesale satellite capacity that it would then on-sell to retail service providers.

However rather than calling for proposals for the provision of satellite capacity, NBN Co appears to be proposing that it simply take over existing supply contracts between retail service providers delivering subsidised satellite services under the Australian Broadband Guarantee scheme and satellite operators - predominantly IPStar and to a lesser extent Optus.

According to an NBN Co consultation paper setting out NBN Co's proposals, obtained by ExchangeDaily, "a pivotal element of our proposal is that the existing [Australian Broadband Guarantee] satellite broadband services migrate from a direct contractual relationship between satellite operators and resellers to one in which NBN Co is functioning as the intermediary to the satellite operator. This will depend on commercial negotiation and assignment of existing contracts in order to achieve scale benefits as soon as possible."

NBN declined to comment when asked about its proposed solution.

Separately, NBN Co has called for capability statements for the provision of future satellite services. However this process aims to develop a long term solution to broadband for the most remote Australians, a process which could see the launch of new satellites that would come into service in 2014 at the earliest.

In the meantime, there are about 90,000 customers served by satellite under the ABG programme. It is presently funded only until June 2012 but does not appear to be operating satisfactorily. The NBN Co proposals aims to remedy this and provide an acceptable satellite broadband service out to 2014.

According to the consultation paper, "it has been reported that recent consumer surveys indicate that there is general satisfaction with the services offered by the ABG. However, this does not align with the cases of disquiet from RSPs and customers, reinforced by direct feedback to the minster's office that the satellite-delivered service level is poor and warrants early intervention."

Of the 90,000 services in operation about 70,000 are provided by IPStar and 20,000 by Optus. Broadband web site Whirlpool has numerous posts detailing recent problems with IPStar: outages caused either by technical problems or heavy rain at its ground stations in Kalgoorlie and Broken Hill.

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