Optus bags NBN tender, will handle satellites for five years
Telecommunications provider Optus has secured a multi-year deal to handle satellite access to the National Broadband Network.
The company will reportedly provide tracking, telemetry and control services for NBN Co's two long-term satellites, after signing a five-year deal late last week.
Optus has secured the rights from a two year old satellites operations services tender, with a chance the initial agreement could be extended to fifteen years.
The development continues Optus’ relationship with the NBN, which has been going since it lent the nationwide high-speed internet project access to its satellites until the NBN units are up in 2015.
Optus says it will run the NBN Co's two satellites from a base station in northern Sydney, from which it is expected to help NBN Co provide broadband services to over 200,000 “homes, farms and businesses”.
“NBN Co's interim satellite service reached capacity in December 2013 after 48,000 premises ordered a service,” NBN Co's satellite program director Matt Dawson said in a statement this week.
“To be able to provide fast broadband to rural and remote areas of Australia, the launch of NBN Co's two new dedicated long term satellites is crucial.”
NBN Co’s satellites are scheduled for launch in 2015.
Insiders expect that the ongoing review of the NBN plan by the Federal Government could lead to even more reliance on satellite connections, which are favoured for rural areas as they require less physical infrastructure. If this were the case, it is likely that Optus will benefit even further from its existing satellite-heavy relationship with the big broadband plan.