Since 2015, NBN Co has operated the Sky Muster satellite service to provide broadband connectivity to regional and remote Australia. It has two satellites in geostationary orbit at an altitude of 35,786 km. The two satellites are located in fixed positions to cover east and west Australia.
These kind of geostationary satellites provide wide coverage and fast speeds, but are associated with slower latency.
In contrast, low Earth orbit satellites operate closer to the Earth's surface, normally at an altitude of 1,000 km or less, and they orbit the Earth at least 11 times a day. The satellites are not in a fixed position relative to the Earth's surface, so it takes hundreds of them to provide full coverage to a nation the size of Australia. This technology is not new - low Earth orbit telecommunications satellites have been in service since the early 1990s.
In recent years, several global companies have begun to invest significant capital in low Earth orbit satellite networks and are now offering commercial services. At present, they come with several drawbacks, such as self-installation, higher monthly costs, variable speeds and intermittent coverage. However, as this technology grows in scale, there is an opportunity to complement existing Sky Muster geostationary assets to address capacity, speed and latency issues.
This opportunity should be considered as part of the NBN's future strategic review on how best to reach remote Australia with satellite technology and inform a strategic roadmap to provide the coverage, speed, reliability and value Australia needs.