nbn has announced plans to expand its satellite beams for its business nbn™ satellite service (BSS)  to cover 100 per cent of the Australian mainland and surrounding large islands to help retail service providers deliver business-grade services to businesses with hard to reach remote operations.

Eligible industrial and government organisations with remote facilities and worksite operations are increasingly relying on satellite broadband to support a range of IoT, safety, cloud services and critical applications. The coverage expansion will help retailers to provide a range of business-grade satellite solutions with a range of options such as committed bandwidth and enhanced service levels.^#

Scheduled for 29 July 2021, BSS beam coverage will increase from 93 per cent to 100 per cent to expand access across the east coast of the Australian mainland, the west coast of Tasmania and large surrounding islands such as Christmas Island, Lord Howe Island and Norfolk Island.

Introduction of new wholesale prices

Along with enhanced coverage, nbn plans to reduce the wholesale price by approximately 40 per cent for the BSS Access Bandwidth Service (ABS) Layer 3 dedicated bandwidth product for internet retailers that engage in extended contract terms with nbn to help meet the needs of their customers over longer time periods.

The ABS Layer 3 service is designed to deliver consistent wholesale speeds of up to 50/13 Mbps to provide the core connectivity for critical applications required by many medium and large businesses, enterprises and government organisations.* 

Further to the wholesale pricing reductions, over the next 6 months commencing 1 April 2021, standard installations will be provided at no cost to internet retailers for businesses that take up the ABS Layer 3 and the BSS Virtual ISP (VISP) solution, which is designed for core business needs by providing wholesale speeds of up to 30/13* Mbps for a 12-month minimum contract term.

NBN Co’s Chief Development Officer of Regional and Remote, Gavin Williams:

“At nbn, we recognise that connectivity is vital for businesses to drive innovation, productivity and growth. With this knowledge we have dedicated ourselves to expand the availability of wholesale business-grade services across the continent.

“Whether to connect remote health facilities, mining operations or large-scale agriculture, these enhancements help make the business nbn™ satellite service more accessible for eligible businesses and government organisations even in the most remote parts of continent and we look forward to delivering new capabilities to further improve the service in the future.”

Better Internet for Rural, Regional and Remote Australia (BIRRR) Founder, Kristy Sparrow:

“We are delighted that businesses across the Australian mainland will not go without access to business-grade services due to the expanded coverage provide by the business nbn™ satellite service. The reduced wholesale prices and no installation fee for selected products, along with the improved accessibility to business-grade services will help remote businesses succeed.”

Notes to editor:

• ¹  Your experience, including the speeds actually achieved over the nbn™ broadband access network, depends on the nbn™ access network technology and configuration over which services are delivered to your premises, whether you are using the internet during the busy period, and some factors outside of nbn’s control (like your equipment quality, software, chosen broadband plan, signal reception, or how your provider designs its network). 
• ² nbn provides wholesale services to phone and internet providers. nbn™ wholesale speed tiers available to providers vary depending on the access technology in an end customer’s area. These peak wholesale download speed tiers of up to and above 100Mbps are only available on the nbn™ fixed line footprint.
• ³ In this reference, nbn™ wholesale download speed tiers include wholesale plans available to phone and internet providers with download speeds of 50Mbps and 25-50Mbps. 
• ⁴ In this reference, nbn wholesale download speed tiers of 100Mbps include wholesale plans available to phone and internet providers with download speeds of 100Mbps, 25-100Mbps and 50-100Mbps.